[1] On that day did the king Ahasuerus give the house of Haman the Jews`
enemy to Esther the queen. Mordecai came before the king; for Esther had
told what he was to her. [2] The king took off his ring, which he had taken
from Haman, and gave it to Mordecai. Esther set Mordecai over the house of
Haman. [3] Esther spoke yet again before the king, and fell down at his
feet, and begged him with tears to put away the mischief of Haman the
Agagite, and his device that he had devised against the Jews. [4] Then the
king held out to Esther the golden scepter. So Esther arose, and stood
before the king. [5] She said, If it please the king, and if I have found
favor in his sight, and the thing seem right before the king, and I be
pleasing in his eyes, let it be written to reverse the letters devised by
Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, which he wrote to destroy the
Jews who are in all the king`s provinces: [6] for how can I endure to see
the evil that shall come to my people? or how can I endure to see the
destruction of my relatives? [7] Then the king Ahasuerus said to Esther the
queen and to Mordecai the Jew, See, I have given Esther the house of Haman,
and him they have hanged on the gallows, because he laid his hand on the
Jews. [8] Write you also to the Jews, as it pleases you, in the king`s
name, and seal it with the king`s ring; for the writing which is written in
the king`s name, and sealed with the king`s ring, may no man reverse. [9]
Then were the king`s scribes called at that time, in the third month Sivan,
on the three and twentieth [day] of it; and it was written according to all
that Mordecai commanded to the Jews, and to the satraps, and the governors
and princes of the provinces which are from India to Ethiopia, one hundred
twenty-seven provinces, to every province according to the writing of it,
and to every people after their language, and to the Jews according to
their writing, and according to their language. [10] He wrote the name of
king Ahasuerus, and sealed it with the king`s ring, and sent letters by
post on horseback, riding on swift steeds that were used in the king`s
service, bred of the stud: [11] in which the king granted the Jews who were
in every city to gather themselves together, and to stand for their life,
to destroy, to kill, and to cause to perish, all the power of the people
and province that would assault them, [their] little ones and women, and to
take the spoil of them for a prey, [12] on one day in all the provinces of
king Ahasuerus, [namely], on the thirteenth [day] of the twelfth month,
which is the month Adar. [13] A copy of the writing, that the decree should
be given out in every province, was published to all the peoples, and that
the Jews should be ready against that day to avenge themselves on their
enemies. [14] So the posts who rode on swift steeds that were used in the
king`s service went out, being hurried and pressed on by the king`s
commandment; and the decree was given out in Shushan the palace. [15]
Mordecai went forth from the presence of the king in royal clothing of blue
and white, and with a great crown of gold, and with a robe of fine linen
and purple: and the city of Shushan shouted and was glad. [16] The Jews had
light and gladness, and joy and honor. [17] In every province, and in every
city, wherever the king`s commandment and his decree came, the Jews had
gladness and joy, a feast and a good day. Many from among the peoples of
the land became Jews; for the fear of the Jews was fallen on them.
