Esther 8

1 On that day has King Ahasuerus given to Esther the queen the house of Haman, adversary of the Jews, and Mordecai has come in before the king, for Esther has declared what he [is] to her,

2 and the king turns aside his signet, that he has caused to pass away from Haman, and gives it to Mordecai, and Esther sets Mordecai over the house of Haman.

3 And Esther adds, and speaks before the king, and falls before his feet, and weeps, and makes supplication to him, to cause the evil of Haman the Agagite to pass away, and his scheme that he had devised against the Jews;

4 and the king holds out to Esther the golden scepter, and Esther rises, and stands before the king,

5 and says, “If to the king [it be] good, and if I have found grace before him, and the thing has been right before the king, and I [am] good in his eyes, let it be written to bring back the letters—a scheme of Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite—that he wrote to destroy the Jews who [are] in all provinces of the king,

6 for how do I endure when I have looked on the evil that finds my people? And how do I endure when I have looked on the destruction of my family?”

7 And King Ahasuerus says to Esther the queen, and to Mordecai the Jew, “Behold, the house of Haman I have given to Esther, and him they have hanged on the tree, because that he put forth his hand on the Jews,

8 and you, write for the Jews, as [it is] good in your eyes, in the name of the king, and seal with the signet of the king—for the writing that is written in the name of the king, and sealed with the signet of the king, there is none to turn back.”

9 And the scribes of the king are called, at that time, in the third month—it [is] the month of Sivan—in the twenty-third [day] of it, and it is written, according to all that Mordecai has commanded, to the Jews, and to the lieutenants, and the governors, and the heads of the provinces, that [are] from Hodu even to Cush, one hundred twenty-seven provinces—province and province according to its writing, and people and people according to its tongue, and to the Jews according to their writing, and according to their tongue.

10 And he writes in the name of King Ahasuerus, and seals with the signet of the king, and sends letters by the hand of the runners with horses, riders of the dromedary, the mules, the young mares,

11 that the king has given to the Jews who [are] in each and every city, to be assembled, and to stand for their life, to cut off, to slay, and to destroy the whole force of the people and province who are distressing them, infants and women, and their spoil to seize.

12 In one day, in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, on the thirteenth of the twelfth month—it [is] the month of Adar—

13 a copy of the writing to be made law in each and every province is revealed to all the peoples, and for the Jews being ready at this day to be avenged of their enemies.

14 The runners, riding on the dromedary, [and] the mules, have gone out, hurried and pressed by the word of the king, and the law has been given in Shushan the palace.

15 And Mordecai went out from before the king, in royal clothing of blue and white, and a great crown of gold, and a garment of fine linen and purple, and the city of Shushan has rejoiced and been glad;

16 to the Jews has been light, and gladness, and joy, and honor,

17 and in each and every province, and in each and every city, the place where the word of the king, even his law, is coming, gladness and joy [are] to the Jews, a banquet, and a good day; and many of the peoples of the land are becoming Jews, for a fear of the Jews has fallen on them.