Esther 8

1On that day King Ahasuerus gave Queen Esther the house of Haman, the enemy of the Jews. And Mordecai came into the king’s presence, for Esther had told him how Mordecai was related to her.

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

3Then Esther spoke again to the king. She fell at his feet, weeping, and begged him to put an end to the evil plan of Haman the Agagite and the plot he had devised against the Jews.

4The king held out the golden scepter to Esther, so Esther got up and stood before the king.

5She said, “If it pleases the king, and if I have found favor with him, and if the matter seems right to the king, and if 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 king’s provinces.

6For how can I bear to see the disaster that is coming on my people? How can I bear to see the destruction of my family?”

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

8Now you may write as you see fit concerning the Jews, in the king’s name, and seal it with the king’s signet ring. For a document written in the king’s name and sealed with the king’s signet ring cannot be revoked.”

9So the king’s scribes were summoned at that time, on the twenty-third day of the third month, the month of Sivan. An order was written, exactly as Mordecai commanded, to the Jews and to the satraps, the governors, and the officials of the 127 provinces from India to Cush, to each province in its own script and to each people in its own language, and to the Jews in their own script and their own language.

10Mordecai wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed it with the king’s signet ring, and he sent the letters by couriers on horseback, riding swift royal horses bred from the royal stud.

11By these letters the king allowed the Jews in every city to assemble and defend their lives, to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate any armed force of any people or province that might attack them, with their children and women, and to plunder their possessions,

12on a single day throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar.

13A copy of the document was to be issued as law in every province and made known to all the peoples, so that the Jews would be ready on that day to take revenge on their enemies.

14The couriers, riding the swift royal horses, went out in haste, urged on by the king’s command. And the decree was issued in Susa the citadel.

15Then Mordecai went out from the king’s presence wearing royal robes of violet and white, with a large gold crown and a cloak of fine linen and purple. And the city of Susa shouted and rejoiced.

16For the Jews there was light and gladness, joy and honor.

17In every province and in every city, wherever the king’s command and his decree reached, there was gladness and joy among the Jews, with feasting and celebration. And many from the peoples of the land became Jews, because fear of the Jews had fallen on them.