Esther 8

¹ On that day King Ahasuerus gave to Queen Esther the house of Haman, the enemy of the Jews. And Mordecai came before the king, for Esther had told the king what he was to her.

² The king took off his signet ring, which he had taken from Haman, and gave it to Mordecai. And Esther set Mordecai over the house of Haman.

³ Then Esther spoke again to the king. She fell at his feet and wept and pleaded with him to avert the evil plan of Haman the Agagite and the plot that he had devised against the Jews.

⁴ The king held out the golden scepter to Esther, and Esther rose and stood before the king.

⁵ She said, "If it pleases the king, and if I have found favor in his sight, and if the matter seems right before the king and I am pleasing in his eyes, let an order be written to revoke the letters devised by Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, which he wrote to destroy the Jews who are in all the provinces of the king.

⁶ For how can I bear to see the disaster that is coming to my people? Or how can I bear to see the destruction of my kindred?"

⁷ Then King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, "I have given Esther the house of Haman, and they have hanged him on the pole because he intended to lay hands on the Jews.

⁸ But you may write as you please with regard to the Jews, in the name of the king, and seal it with the king's ring, for an edict written in the name of the king and sealed with the king's ring cannot be revoked."

⁹ The king's scribes were summoned at that time, in the third month, which is the month of Sivan, on the twenty-third day. An edict was written according to all that Mordecai commanded concerning the Jews, to the satraps, the governors, and the officials of the provinces from India to Cush—127 provinces—to every province in its own script and to every people in their own language, and also to the Jews in their script and their language.

¹⁰ He wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed it with the king's ring. He sent the letters by mounted couriers riding on swift horses bred from the royal stud.

¹¹ In them the king granted the Jews in every city the right to assemble and defend their lives, to destroy, kill, and annihilate any armed force of any people or province that might attack them—children and women included—and to plunder their goods,

¹² on one day throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar.

¹³ A copy of the document was to be issued as a decree in every province and proclaimed to all peoples, so that the Jews would be ready on that day to take vengeance on their enemies.

¹⁴ The couriers, mounted on swift horses used in the king's service, rode out in urgent haste by order of the king. The decree was also issued in the citadel of Susa.

¹⁵ Then Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal robes of blue and white, with a great golden crown and a robe of fine linen and purple, and the city of Susa shouted and rejoiced.

¹⁶ The Jews had light and gladness and joy and honor.

¹⁷ In every province and in every city, wherever the king's command and his edict reached, there was gladness and joy among the Jews, a feast and a holiday. And many from the peoples of the land declared themselves Jews, for fear of the Jews had fallen on them.