Esther

8 That day King Xerxes gave Queen Esther the house of Haman the Jews’ assailant; and Mordocai came in before the king, because Esther had told what he was to her, 2 and the king took off his ring, of which he had divested Haman, and gave it to Mordocai. And Esther set Mordocai over Haman’s house.

3 And Esther spoke before the king again, throwing herself down before his feet and weeping and begging him to avert the mischief of Haman the Agagite and his scheme which he had contrived against the Jews. 4 And the king held out the golden scepter for Esther; and Esther rose and stood before the king, 5 and said “If the king thinks best and if I am in favor with him, and the proposal seems to the king to be advantageous and the king likes me, let something be written to reverse the writs contrived by Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite which he indited to destroy the Jews in all the king’s provinces; 6 for how can I look on at the disaster that is to befall my people, and how can I look on at the destruction of my race?”

7 And King Xerxes said to Queen Esther and to Mordocai the Jew “Here I have given Esther Haman’s house, and him they have impaled, for having laid hands on the Jews; 8 now write yourselves about the Jews the sort of thing that seems best to you, in the king’s name, and seal it with the king’s ring; for a document that has been written in the king’s name and sealed with the king’s ring is not to be reversed.”

9 And the king’s secretaries were called on that date, in the third month (that is, the month of Sivan), on the twenty-third of it, and just such things as Mordocai ordered were written to the Jews and to the satraps and the governors and the princes of the provinces from India to Nubia, a hundred and twenty-seven provinces, each province in its own form of writing and each people in its own language, and to the Jews in their form of writing and in their language; 10* and it was written in King Xerxes’ name and sealed with the king’s ring. And Mordocai sent writs by pony-couriers, mounted on government blood-horses of choice strains, 11* that the king had granted to the Jews in each and every city to assemble and make a stand for their lives, to kill and destroy and root out every force of people or province that should assail them, children and women, and to take their plunder, 12 on one day in all King Xerxes’ provinces, on the thirteenth of the twelfth month (that is, the month of Adar). 13 A copy of the document, to be promulgated as law in each and every province, was publicly displayed to all the peoples, that the Jews be ready on this day to take vengeance on their enemies. 14 The couriers, mounted on the government blood-horses, hurried out posthaste by royal order, and the law was promulgated in Susa Citadel. 15 And Mordocai went out from before the king in royal dress of violet and white, with a great gold coronet and a mantle of lawn and purple; and the city of Susa was whooping and making merry; 16 to the Jews came light and gladness and joy and honor. 17 And in each and every province and in each and every city in the place where the king’s word and law arrived there was merrymaking and rejoicing of the Jews, banqueting and festival; and many of the populace turned Jews because dread of the Jews had fallen on them.