Esther 8
1 [Later] on that same day, King Xerxes declared that everything that Haman, the enemy of the Jews, owned, would now belong to Queen Esther. Esther told the king that Mordecai was her cousin. [When] the king [heard that, he sent a message to tell] Mordecai to come in.
That same day King Xerxes awarded Queen Esther the estate of Haman, the enemy of the Jews. And Mordecai entered the king’s presence because Esther had revealed his relation to her.
2 When Mordecai came in, the king took off the ring that had his official seal on it, the ring that he had [previously] given to Haman, and gave it to Mordecai, [to indicate that Mordecai was now his most important official]. And Esther appointed Mordecai to be in charge of everything that had belonged to Haman.
The king removed the signet ring he had recovered from Haman and presented it to Mordecai. And Esther appointed Mordecai over the estate of Haman.
3 Esther again [came to] talk to the king. She prostrated herself at his feet, crying. She [wanted to] plead for him to stop what Haman had planned, to kill all the Jews.
And once again, Esther addressed the king. She fell at his feet weeping and begged him to revoke the evil scheme of Haman the Agagite, which he had devised against the Jews.
4 The king held out his gold scepter/staff toward Esther, so Esther arose and stood in front of him.
The king extended the gold scepter toward Esther, and she arose and stood before the king.
5 She said, “Your majesty, if you are pleased with me, and if you think that it is the right thing to do, make a new law to cancel what Haman decreed, that all the Jews in all the provinces in your empire should be killed.
“If it pleases the king,” she said, “and if I have found favor in his sight, and the matter seems proper to the king, and I am pleasing in his sight, may an order be written to revoke the letters that the scheming Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, wrote to destroy the Jews in all the king’s provinces.
6 I cannot bear seeing all my family and [all the rest of] my people killed.”
For how could I bear to see the disaster that would befall my people? How could I bear to see the destruction of my kindred?”
7 King Xerxes replied to Queen Esther and Mordecai, “Because Haman tried to get rid of all the Jews, I have given to Esther everything that belonged to Haman, and I have ordered [my soldiers] to hang Haman.
So King Xerxes said to Esther the Queen and Mordecai the Jew, “Behold, I have given Haman’s estate to Esther, and he was hanged on the gallows because he attacked the Jews.
8 So now I am also permitting you to write other letters, to [save] your people. You may put my name [on the letters], and use my ring to seal them because no letter that has my name on it and which is sealed with my ring can ever be changed.”
Now you may write in the king’s name as you please regarding the Jews, and seal it with the royal signet ring. For a decree that is written in the name of the king and sealed with the royal signet ring cannot be revoked.”
9 Then the king summoned his secretaries, on June 25th, and [Mordecai told them to] write letters to the Jews and to all the governors and other officials in all of the 127 provinces, which extended from India [in the east] to Ethiopia [in the west]. They wrote these letters in all the languages that the people in each area spoke. They also wrote letters to the Jewish people, in their language.
At once the royal scribes were summoned, and on the twenty-third day of the third month (the month of Sivan ), they recorded all of Mordecai’s orders to the Jews and to the satraps, governors, and princes of the 127 provinces from India to Cush —writing to each province in its own script, to every people in their own language, and to the Jews in their own script and language.
10 They wrote in those letters that the Jews in every city were permitted by the king to gather together to protect themselves. They also were permitted to kill any group of soldiers who attacked them. They were also permitted to kill the women and children of those who attacked them, and to take the possessions of the people whom they killed.
Mordecai wrote in the name of King Xerxes and sealed it with the royal signet ring. He sent the documents by mounted couriers riding on swift horses bred from the royal mares.
By these letters the king permitted the Jews in each and every city the right to assemble and defend themselves, to destroy, kill, and annihilate all the forces of any people or province hostile to them, including women and children, and to plunder their possessions.
12 [All this was to be done] on March 7th of the following year. Mordecai signed the king’s name on the letters, and sealed them with the seal that was on the king’s ring. Then he gave them to messengers, who rode on fast horses that had been raised especially for the king.
The single day appointed throughout all the provinces of King Xerxes was the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar.
13 Copies of this law were to be nailed to posts in every province and read to all the people, in order that the Jews would be ready to (get revenge on/fight against) their enemies on March 7th.
A copy of the text of the edict was to be issued in every province and published to all the people, so that the Jews would be ready on that day to avenge themselves on their enemies.
14 The king commanded the men who took these letters [to all the provinces] to ride quickly on the king’s horses. And copies of the letter were also posted and read to the people in [the capital city, ] Susa.
The couriers rode out in haste on their royal horses, pressed on by the command of the king. And the edict was also issued in the citadel of Susa.
15 Before Mordecai left the palace, he put on the blue and white robe and a large gold crown that the king had given him. He also put on a coat made of fine purple cloth. When the people in Susa heard the new law, they all shouted and cheered.
Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal garments of blue and white, with a large gold crown and a purple robe of fine linen. And the city of Susa shouted and rejoiced.
16 The Jews in Susa were very happy, and [other people] honored [them].
For the Jews it was a time of light and gladness, of joy and honor.
17 And when the new law arrived in every city and province, the Jews there celebrated and prepared feasts and were very joyful. And many men throughout the empire [were circumcised and] became Jews, because they were now afraid of [what] the Jews [would do to them if they were not Jews].
In every province and every city, wherever the king’s edict and decree reached, there was joy and gladness among the Jews, with feasting and celebrating. And many of the people of the land themselves became Jews, because the fear of the Jews had fallen upon them.
