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.
On that day King Ahasuerus gave Queen Esther the property of Haman, the enemy of the Jews, and Mordecai began to serve before the king, for Esther told the king how Mordecai was related 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 took off his signet ring, which he had taken back from Haman, and gave it to Mordecai. Esther designated Mordecai to be in charge of Haman's estate.
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.
Then Esther spoke again to the king. She lay facedown on the ground and wept as she pleaded with him to put an end to the evil plan of Haman the Agagite, to the scheme that 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.
Then the king held out the golden scepter to Esther, 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.
She said, “If it pleases the king, and if I have found favor in your eyes, if the thing seems right before the king, and I am pleasing in your eyes, let a decree be written to revoke the letters written by Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the letters that he wrote to destroy the Jews who are 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 disaster fall on my people? How could I endure watching the destruction of my relatives?”
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.
King 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 gallows, because he was going to attack 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.”
Write another decree for the Jews in the name of the king and seal it with the king's ring. For the decree that has already been written in the king's name and sealed with the king's 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.
Then the king's scribes were called at that time, in the third month, which is the month of Sivan, on the twenty-third day of the month. A decree was written containing all that Mordecai was commanding concerning the Jews. It was written to the provincial governors, the governors and officials of the provinces that were located from India to Cush, 127 provinces, to every province written in their own writing, and to every people in their language, and to the Jews in their writing 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 Ahasuerus and sealed it with the king's signet ring. He sent the documents by couriers riding on the fast horses that were used in the king's service, bred from the royal stud.
The king gave to the Jews who were in every city permission to gather together and to make a stand to protect their lives: To annihiliate, to kill, and to destroy any armed force from any people or province that might attack them, children and women included, or 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.
This was to be in effect in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is 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 decree was to be issued as a law and publicly displayed to all the peoples. The Jews were to be ready on that day to take vengeance 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.
So the couriers rode on the royal horses that were used in the king's service. They went without delay. The king's decree was also issued from the palace in 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.
Then Mordecai left the king's presence wearing royal clothes of blue and white, with a great crown of gold 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].
The Jews had light and gladness, and 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 in every city, wherever the king's decree reached, there was gladness and joy among the Jews, a feast and a holiday. Many from among the variety of peoples of the land became Jews, because the fear of the Jews had fallen on them.
