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same day King Ahasuerus gave Queen Esther the estate of Haman, the enemy of the Jews. And Mordecai came in to the presence of the king, for Esther had told how he was related to her. 2 The king took off his signet ring, which he had recovered from Haman, and presented it to Mordecai. And Esther appointed Mordecai over Haman’s estate.
3 Esther again pleaded to the king. She fell at his feet weeping, and begged him to revoke the evil scheme of Haman the Agagite, which he had devised against the Jews. 4 The king held out the golden sceptre to Esther, so she got up and stood before the king.
5 Then she said, “If it pleases the king, and if I have found approval with him and he thinks it is the right thing to do, and if he is pleased with me, let a royal edict be written overruling the documents that Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, devised and wrote ordering the destruction of all the Jews throughout the king’s provinces. 6 For how can I bear to see the evil disaster that would will fall on my people? How could I bear to see the destruction of my own family?”
7 King Ahausuerus said to King Esther and Mordecai the Jew, “Look, I have given the estate of Haman to Esther, and they have hanged him on the gallows because he attacked the Jews. 8 You may write another decree in the king’s name concerning the Jews as seems best to you, and seal it with the king’s signet ring; for an edict written in the king’s name and sealed with his signet ring cannot be revoked.”
9 So the king’s scribes were immediately summoned to write the edict, on the twenty-third day of the third month, the month of Sivan. They wrote down the edict exactly as Mordecai ordered for the Jews, to the satraps, governors, and nobles of the 127 provinces stretching from India to Cush. The edict was written to each province in its own script, and in the language of each people, and to the Jews in their own script and language. 10 Mordecai wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus, and sealed the edicts with the king’s signet ring. Then he sent the documents by mounted couriers, who rode on fast horses especially bred for the king’s service.
11 The king’s edict granted the Jews in every city the right to assemble and defend themselves, to destroy, kill, and annihilate any armed force of any nationality or province that might attack them and their women and children; and also to plunder them and take their possessions as the spoils of war. 12 This would be carried out on a single day in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus onthe thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar. 13 A copy of the text was to be issued as a declaration of law in every province and made known to all the peoples, so the Jews would be ready on that day to avenge themselves against their enemies.
14 So the couriers rode out swiftly at the king’s urgent command, mounted on the royal horses. And the edict was also issued in the citadel of Susa.
15 Mordecai went out from the kings presence wearing royal robes of blue and white, with a great crown of gold and a purple robe of fine linen; and the city of Susa shouted and rejoiced. 16 For the Jews it was a time of gladness, joy, and honour. 17 In every province and in every city, wherever the king’s command and his edict went, there was joy and gladness among the Jews, a festival and a holiday. And many of the people of the land professed themselves to be Jews, because the fear of the Jews had seized them.