Esther 8 · אסתר

On that day king Aĥashverosh gave the house of Haman the Jews’ enemy to Ester the queen. And Mordokhay came before the king; for Ester had told him what he was to her.

And the king took off his ring which he had taken from Haman, and gave it to Mordokhay. And Ester set Mordokhay over the house of Haman.

And Ester spoke once more before the king, and fell down at his feet, and besought him with tears to avert the mischief of Haman the Agagite, and his scheme that he had devised against the Jews.

Then the king held out the golden sceptre towards Ester. So Ester arose, and stood before the king,

and said, If it please the king, and if I have found favour in his sight, and the thing seem right before the king, and I be pleasing in his eyes, let an order be written to revoke the letters devised by Haman the son of Hammedata the Agagite, which he wrote to destroy the Jews who are in all the king’s provinces:

for how can I endure to see the evil that shall befall my people? or how can I endure to see the destruction of my kindred?

Then the king Aĥashverosh said to Ester the queen and to Mordokhay the Jew, Behold, I have given Ester the house of Haman, and him they have hanged upon the gallows, because he would lay his hand upon the Jews.

Write also as you please about the Jews in the king’s name, and seal it with the king’s ring: but the writing which is already written in the king’s name, and sealed with the king’s ring, cannot be revoked.

Then the king’s scribes were called at that time in the third month, that is, the month Sivan, on the twenty third day of the month; and an order was written, according to all that Mordokhay commanded, to the Jews, and to the satraps, and the governors and princes of the provinces, from Hoddu as far as Kush, a hundred and twenty seven provinces, to every province according to its writing, and to every people according to their language, and to the Jews according to their writing, and according to their language.

And he wrote in the name of king Aĥashverosh, and sealed it with the king’s ring, and sent letters by couriers on horseback, riding on the swift horses used in the royal service, bred from the stud mares:

by these the king granted the Jews who were in every city to gather themselves together, and to stand up for themselves, to destroy, to slay, and to annihilate any armed force of any people or province that might assault them, with their little ones and women, and to plunder their goods;

on one day in all the provinces of king Aĥashverosh, namely, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar.

The copy of the writing to be given out for a commandment in every province was to be published to all the peoples, and that the Jews should be ready by that day to avenge themselves on their enemies.

So the couriers who rode on horseback, riding on the swift horses used in the royal service, went out, being hastened and pressed on by the king’s commandment. And the decree was given at Shushan the capital.

And Mordokhay went out from the presence of the king in royal apparel of blue and white, and with a great crown of gold, and with a wrap of fine linen and purple: and the city of Shushan rejoiced and was glad.

The Jews had light, and gladness, and joy, and honour.

And in every province, and in every city, wherever the king’s commandment and his decree came, the Jews had joy and gladness, a feast and a holiday. And many of the people of the land became Jews; for the fear of the Jews fell upon them.