1That same day King Ahasuerus gave the house of Haman, the enemy of the Jews, to Queen Esther. And Mordecai came before the king, for Esther had told him how Mordecai was related to her.
2The king took off his ring, which he had taken back from Haman, and gave it to Mordecai. And Esther put Mordecai in charge of the house of Haman.
3Esther spoke to the king again. She fell down at his feet and begged him with tears to stop the evil plan of Haman the Agagite, the scheme he had made against the Jews.
4Then the king held out the golden sceptre toward Esther. So Esther got up and stood before the king.
5She said, "If it pleases the king, and if I have found favour with him, and if the thing seems right to the king, and if I am pleasing in his eyes, let an order be written to cancel the letters planned by Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite. He wrote them to destroy the Jews who are in all the king's provinces."
6"For how can I bear to see the evil that will come on my people? How can I bear to see the destruction of my family?"
7Then King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, "Look, I have given Esther the house of Haman, and they have hanged him on the gallows, because he laid his hand on the Jews."
8"Now you write about the Jews as you please, in the king's name, and seal it with the king's ring. For no one can cancel a writing that is written in the king's name and sealed with the king's ring."
9So the king's scribes were called at that time, in the third month, that is, the month Sivan, on the twenty-third day of it. All that Mordecai commanded was written to the Jews, and to the officers, and the governors and rulers of the provinces from India to Ethiopia, a hundred and twenty-seven provinces. It was written to every province in its own writing, and to every people in their own language, and to the Jews in their writing and their language.
10He wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus, and sealed it with the king's ring, and sent the letters by messengers on horseback, riding on mules, camels, and young dromedaries.
11In these letters the king allowed the Jews who were in every city to gather together and to defend their lives. They were to destroy, to kill, and to wipe out all the forces of any people or province that attacked them, including little ones and women, and to take their goods as plunder,
12on one day in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, that is, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar.
13A copy of the writing was to be given as a law in every province, and was made known to all peoples, so that the Jews would be ready on that day to take revenge on their enemies.
14So the messengers who rode on mules and camels went out, hurried and pressed on by the king's command. And the decree was given out in Shushan the palace.
15Mordecai went out from the king's presence in royal clothes of blue and white, with a great crown of gold, and with a robe of fine linen and purple. And the city of Shushan shouted and was glad.
16The Jews had light, and gladness, and joy, and honour.
17In every province and in every city, wherever the king's command and his decree came, the Jews had joy and gladness, a feast and a happy day. And many of the people of the land became Jews, for the fear of the Jews had fallen on them.