Esther 8 On the same day king Xerxes gave the house of Haman, the foe of the Jews, to queen Esther. As for Mordecai, he came before the king, for Esther had told what he was to her.

CLV⁽ⁱ⁾ ¹ On the same day king Xerxes gave the house of Haman, the foe of the Jews, to queen Esther. As for Mordecai, he came before the king, for Esther had told what he was to her. ² The king took off his ring that he had reclaimed from Haman and bestowed it on Mordecai; and Esther appointed Mordecai to oversee Haman's house. ³ Then Esther pleaded again before the king and fell down before his feet. She wept and supplicated him to avert the evil plotted by Haman the Agagite, and his devising that he had designed against the Jews. ⁴ When the king held out the golden scepter to Esther, then Esther arose and stood before the king, ⁵ and she said:If it please the king, and if I have found favor before him, and the request seems right before the king, and I am well-pleasing in his eyes, let a decree be written to reverse the letters, the devising of Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, those which he wrote to destroy the Jews in all the king's provinces. ⁶ For how can I endure to see this peril that is coming upon my people? And how can I endure to see the destruction of my kindred? ⁷ King Xerxes replied to queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew:Behold, I have given Haman's house to Esther, and they hanged him on the gallows because he put forth his hand against the Jews. ⁸ As for you, write on behalf of the Jews as seems best in your eyes. Write in the king's name and seal it with the king's ring. (For a writing which is written in the king's name and sealed with the king's ring can not be reversed.. ⁹ So the king's scribes were called at that time, in the third month, that is, the month of Sivan, on the twenty-third day of it. All was written, just as Mordecai instructed them, to the Jews and to the satraps, the viceroys and chief officials of all the provinces, 127 provinces from India unto Nubia, to each province in its provincial writing, and to each people in its popular tongue, and to the Jews in their writing and in their tongue. ¹⁰ Mordecai wrote in the name of King Xerxes, sealed with the king's ring and sent letters by means of couriers on horseback, riding the stallions of the royal service, those bred of its stud-mares. ¹¹ By these letters the king granted the Jews who were in every place, city by city, the right to assemble and to stand up for their souls, to exterminate, to kill and to destroy every armed unit of any people or province that might besiege them, their little ones or their women, and that might plunder the loot of them, ¹² on a single day in all the provinces of king Xerxes, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, that is, the month of Adar. ¹³ A transcript of the written text was to be promulgated as an edict in all the different provinces and was to be revealed to all the peoples, that the Jews would be equipped for this day to avenge themselves on their enemies. ¹⁴ The couriers, riding the stallions of the royal service, rode forth, speeding up posthaste by order of the king; and the edict was promulgated in the castle of Susa. ¹⁵ As for Mordecai, he went forth from before the king in royal garment of blue and pale, wearing a magnified coronet of gold and a cloak of fine linen and purple wool. And Susa city was noisy with rejoicing. ¹⁶ For the Jews there was light with rejoicing, elation and esteem. ¹⁷ Also in every place of the different provinces and in each of the different cities to which the king's order and his edict were attaining, there was rejoicing and elation for the Jews, with feasting and a cheerful day. And many of the peoples of the country were professing themselves Jews, for awesome fear of the Jews had fallen on them.