Esther Chapter 8

Esther Saves the Jews

¹ That day King Ahasuerus gave Queen Esther the house of Haman, enemy of the Jews. Mordecai came into the king’s presence because she revealed how he was related to her. ² The king took off the signet ring he’d taken away from Haman and gave it to Mordecai. Esther put Mordecai over Haman’s house.

³ She spoke again to the king, fell at his feet, cried, and implored him to overturn the plot Haman had devised against the Jews. ⁴ He extended the gold scepter to her. She got up and stood in front of him,

 ⁵ “If it pleases you,

                  if I’ve found favor with you,

if the matter seems proper to you,

             if I’m pleasing to you,

have it written to revoke the letters Haman wrote in his plot to destroy the Jews in your provinces. ⁶ How can I endure to see the misfortune that will fall on my people and the destruction of my kin?”

 ⁷ He told her and Mordecai,

“I’ve given Haman’s house to Esther. They’ve hanged him on the gallows because he reached out against the Jews. ⁸ Now write to the Jews as you see fit in my name and seal it with my signet ring; a decree written in the king’s name and sealed with his seal can’t be revoked.”                                                                             Esther 8:1-8

⁹ They called in the king’s scribes on the twenty-third day, third month (Sivan). They wrote what Mordecai commanded the Jews, satraps, governors, and rulers of the 127 provinces from India to Nubia. They wrote to every province in its script and every people group in their language as well as to the Jews in their script and language. ¹⁰ Mordecai wrote in the name of Ahasuerus, sealed it with his signet ring, and sent letters by couriers on horses sired by the royal stud. ¹¹ In the letters the king allowed the Jews in every city to gather and defend themselves, to destroy, kill, and annihilate the entire army of any people or province that would attack them, including women and children, and to plunder their spoil. ¹² That could happen on one day in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus: the thirteenth day, twelfth month (Adar). ¹³ A copy of the edict was issued as law in every province so the Jews would be ready that day to avenge themselves on their enemies. ¹⁴ The couriers, hurried by the king’s command, went out, riding on steeds used for the king’s service. The decree circulated in Susa as well. 

¹⁵ Then Mordecai went out from the king in blue and white royal robes, a large gold crown, and a purple, fine-linen cloak. ¹⁶ The Jews had light and honor. ¹⁷ In every province and city where the king’s decree went, they had happiness and joy, a festival and holiday. Many people in the empire became Jews because they had come to dread them.                                         Esther 8:9-17