Aug 25, 2019
Esther 8:1-17
On that day King Ahasuerus gave to Queen Esther the house of Haman,
the enemy of the Jews. And Mordecai came before the king, for
Esther had told what he was to her. 2 And the king took
off his signet ring, which he had taken from Haman, and gave it to
Mordecai. And Esther set Mordecai over the house of Haman.
3 Then Esther spoke again to the king. She fell at his
feet and wept and pleaded with him to avert the evil plan of Haman
the Agagite and the plot that he had devised against the Jews.
4 When the king held out the golden scepter to Esther,
Esther rose and stood before the king. 5 And she said,
“If it please the king, and if I have found favor in his sight, and
if the thing seems right before the king, and I am pleasing in his
eyes, let an order be written to revoke the letters devised by
Haman the Agagite, the son of Hammedatha, which he wrote to destroy
the Jews who are in all the provinces of the king. 6 For
how can I bear to see the calamity that is coming to my people? Or
how can I bear to see the destruction of my kindred?”
7 Then King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther and to
Mordecai the Jew, “Behold, I have given Esther the house of Haman,
and they have hanged him on the gallows, because he intended to lay
hands on the Jews. 8 But you may write as you please
with regard to the Jews, in the name of the king, and seal it with
the king's ring, for an edict written in the name of the king and
sealed with the king's ring cannot be revoked.”
9 The king's scribes were summoned at that time, in the
third month, which is the month of Sivan, on the twenty-third day.
And an edict was written, according to all that Mordecai commanded
concerning the Jews, to the satraps and the governors and the
officials of the provinces from India to Ethiopia, 127 provinces,
to each province in its own script and to each people in its own
language, and also to the Jews in their script and their language.
10 And he wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed
it with the king's signet ring. Then he sent the letters by mounted
couriers riding on swift horses that were used in the king's
service, bred from the royal stud, 11 saying that the
king allowed the Jews who were in every city to gather and defend
their lives, to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate any armed force
of any people or province that might attack them, children and
women included, and to plunder their goods, 12 on one
day throughout all
the provinces of King Ahasuerus, on the thirteenth day of the
twelfth month, which is the month of
Adar. 13 A copy of what was written was to be issued as
a decree in every province, being publicly displayed to all
peoples, and the Jews were to be ready on that day to take
vengeance on their enemies. 14 So the couriers, mounted
on their swift horses that were used in the king's service, rode
out hurriedly, urged by the king's command. And the decree was
issued in Susa the citadel.
15 Then Mordecai went out from the presence of the king
in royal robes of blue and white, with a great golden crown and a
robe of fine linen and purple, and the city of Susa shouted and
rejoiced. 16 The Jews had light and gladness and joy and
honor. 17 And in every province and in every city,
wherever the king's command and his edict reached, there was
gladness and joy among the Jews, a feast and a holiday. And many
from the peoples of the country declared themselves Jews, for fear
of the Jews had fallen on them.