Esther 8
Open in the reader1That same day King Ahasuerus awarded Queen Esther the estate of Haman, the enemy of the Praised-Ones. And Mordecai entered the king’s presence because Esther had revealed his relation to her.
2The king removed the signet ring he had recovered from Haman and presented it to Mordecai. And Esther appointed Mordecai over the estate of Haman.
3And once again, Esther addressed 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 Praised-Ones.
4The king extended the gold scepter toward Esther, and she arose and stood before the king.
5“If it pleases the king,” she said, “and if I have found favor in his sight, and the matter seems proper to the king, and I am pleasing in his sight, may an order be written to revoke the letters that the scheming Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, wrote to destroy the Praised-Ones in all the king’s provinces.
6For how could I bear to see the disaster that would befall my people? How could I bear to see the destruction of my kindred?”
7So King Ahasuerus said to Esther the Queen and Mordecai the Praised-One, “Behold, I have given Haman’s estate to Esther, and he was hanged on the gallows because he attacked the Praised-Ones.
8Now you may write in the king’s name as you please regarding the Praised-Ones, and seal it with the royal signet ring. For a decree that is written in the name of the king and sealed with the royal signet ring cannot be revoked.”
9At once the royal scribes were summoned, and on the twenty-third day of the third month (the month of Sivan ), they recorded all of Mordecai’s orders to the Praised-Ones and to the satraps, governors, and princes of the 127 provinces from India to Cush —writing to each province in its own script, to every people in their own language, and to the Praised-Ones in their own script and language.
10Mordecai wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed it with the royal signet ring. He sent the documents by mounted couriers riding on swift horses bred from the royal mares.
11By these letters the king permitted the Praised-Ones in each and every city the right to assemble and defend themselves, to destroy, kill, and annihilate all the forces of any people or province hostile to them, including women and children, and to plunder their possessions.
12The single day appointed throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus was the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar.
13A copy of the text of the edict was to be issued in every province and published to all the people, so that the Praised-Ones would be ready on that day to avenge themselves on their enemies.
14The couriers rode out in haste on their royal horses, pressed on by the command of the king. And the edict was also issued in the citadel of Susa.
15Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal garments of blue and white, with a large gold crown and a purple robe of fine linen. And the city of Susa shouted and rejoiced.
16For the Praised-Ones it was a time of light and gladness, of joy and honor.
17In every province and every city, wherever the king’s edict and decree reached, there was joy and gladness among the Praised-Ones, with feasting and celebrating. And many of the people of the land themselves became Praised-Ones, because the fear of the Praised-Ones had fallen upon them.