Esther Appeals for the Jews

1On that day King Ahasuerus gave to Esther the queen the house of Haman, the enemy of the Jews,† and Mordecai came before the face of the King, for Esther had declared what he was to her. 2And the king removed his signet ring which he had caused to pass from Haman, and he gave it to Mordecai, and Esther appointed Mordecai over the house of Haman.

3And Esther added, and she spoke before the face of the king, and she fell down before the face of his feet, and she wept, and she sought favor from him, to make pass away the evil of Haman the Agagite and his plotting which he had plotted against the Jews.

4And the king extended to Esther the golden scepter, and Esther rose, and she stood before the face of the king,

5and she said, “If upon the king it is good, and if I have found favor before his face, and if the thing is proper before the face of the king, and I am good in his eyes, let it be written to revoke the letters—the plot of Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite—which he wrote to destroy the Jews who are in all the provinces of the king. 6For how could I bear when I have looked on the evil that would find my people? And how could I bear when I have looked on the destruction of my kindred?”

The Decree of Xerxes

7And King Ahasuerus said to Esther the queen and to Mordecai the Jew, “Behold, the house of Haman I have given to Esther, and they have hanged him upon the tree, on account that he stretched out his hand against the Jews. 8And may you⁺ write concerning the Jews as is good in your⁺ eyes in the name of the king, and seal it with the signet ring of the king. For a writing that is written in the name of the king and is sealed with the signet ring of the king, there is no revoking.”

9And the scribes of the king were called at that time, in the third month (it is the month of Sivan),† on the three and twentieth day in it, and it was written according to all that Mordecai commanded to the Jews, and to the satraps, and the governors, and the officials of the provinces that are from India even as far as Cush,† seven and twenty and a hundred provinces—province by province according to its writing, and people by people according to its tongue, and to the Jews according to their writing and according to their tongue.

10And he wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus, and he sealed it with the signet ring of the king, and he sent letters by the hand of the runners on the horses, riders of the royal steeds, sons of the mares,

11that the king gave to the Jews who were in every city and city, to gather together and to stand for their soul, to destroy, and to kill, and to exterminate all of the strength of the people and province that would assault them, little children and women, and to plunder their spoil, 12on a single day in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, on the three and tenth day of the two and tenth month, it is, the month of Adar.†

13A copy of the writing, to be given as law in every province and province, was revealed to all the peoples, and for the Jews to be ready for this day to avenge themselves from their enemies. 14The runners, riding the royal steeds, went forth, being hurried and driven by the word of the king, and the law was given in Susa the citadel.

15And Mordecai went forth from before the face of the king in a garment of royalty of blue and white, and a great crown of gold, and a robe of fine linen and purple; and the city of Susa shouted and rejoiced.

16For the Jews there was light and joy and gladness and honor. 17And in every province and province, and in every city and city, the place to which the word of the king and his law reached, there was joy and gladness for the Jews, a feast and a good day, and many from the people of the land were making themselves Jews, for the fear of the Jews had fallen upon them.

Footnotes:

1 Or Judeans; The term is not limited to the ancestral tribe of Judah, but refers more broadly to the exilic/post-exilic people dispersed throughout the Persian Empire; here and throughout the chapter
9 Sivan is the third month of the Hebrew lunar calendar, usually occurring within the months of May and June.
9 That is, to the upper Nile region
12 Adar is the twelfth month of the Hebrew lunar calendar, usually occurring within the months of February and March.