Esther 6–8

The King Honours Mordecai

6That same night the king could not get to sleep, so he ordered the official records of the empire to be brought and read to him. ^2*The part they read included the account of how Mordecai had uncovered a plot to assassinate the king—the plot made by Bigthana and Teresh, the two palace eunuchs who had guarded the king’s rooms. ³The king asked, “How have we honoured and rewarded Mordecai for this?”

His servants answered, “Nothing has been done for him.”

⁴“Are any of my officials in the palace?” the king asked.

Now Haman had just entered the courtyard; he had come to ask the king to have Mordecai hanged on the gallows that was now ready. ⁵So the servants answered, “Haman is here, waiting to see you.”

“Show him in,” said the king.

⁶So Haman came in, and the king said to him, “There is someone I wish very much to honour. What should I do for this man?”

Haman thought to himself, “Now who could the king want to honour so much? Me, of course.”

^7–8So he answered the king, “Order royal robes to be brought for this man—robes that you yourself wear. Order a royal ornament^f to be put on your own horse. ⁹Then get one of your highest noblemen to dress the man in these robes and lead him, mounted on the horse, through the city square. Let the nobleman announce as they go: ‘See how the king rewards a person he wishes to honour!’ ”

¹⁰Then the king said to Haman, “Hurry and get the robes and the horse, and provide these honours for Mordecai the Jew. Do everything for him that you have suggested. You will find him sitting at the entrance of the palace.”

¹¹So Haman got the robes and the horse, and he put the robes on Mordecai. Mordecai got on the horse, and Haman led him through the city square, announcing to the people as they went: “See how the king rewards a man he wishes to honour!”

¹²Mordecai then went back to the palace entrance while Haman hurried home, covering his face in embarrassment. ¹³He told his wife and all his friends everything that had happened to him. Then she and those wise friends of his said to him, “You are beginning to lose power to Mordecai. He is a Jew, and you cannot overcome him. He will certainly defeat you.”

Haman Is Put to Death

¹⁴While they were still talking, the palace eunuchs arrived in a hurry to take Haman to Esther’s banquet.

7And so the king and Haman went to eat with Esther ²for a second time. Over the wine the king asked her again, “Now, Queen Esther, what do you want? Tell me and you shall have it. I’ll even give you half the empire.”

³Queen Esther answered, “If it please Your Majesty to grant my humble request, my wish is that I may live and that my people may live. ⁴My people and I have been sold for slaughter. If it were nothing more serious than being sold into slavery, I would have kept quiet and not bothered you about it;^g but we are about to be destroyed—exterminated!”

⁵Then King Xerxes asked Queen Esther, “Who dares to do such a thing? Where is this man?”

⁶Esther answered, “Our enemy, our persecutor, is this evil man Haman!”

Haman stared at the king and queen in terror. ⁷The king got up in a fury, left the room, and went outside to the palace gardens. Haman could see that the king was determined to punish him for this, so he stayed behind to beg Queen Esther for his life. ⁸He had just thrown himself down on Esther’s couch to beg for mercy, when the king came back into the room from the gardens. Seeing this, the king cried out, “Is this man going to rape the queen right here in front of me, in my own palace?”

The king had no sooner said this than the eunuchs covered Haman’s head. ⁹Then one of them, who was named Harbonah, said, “Haman even went so far as to build a gallows at his house so that he could hang Mordecai, who saved Your Majesty’s life. And it’s twenty-two metres tall!”

“Hang Haman on it!” the king commanded.

¹⁰So Haman was hanged on the gallows that he had built for Mordecai. Then the king’s anger cooled down.

The Jews Are Told to Fight Back

8That same day King Xerxes gave Queen Esther all the property of Haman, the enemy of the Jews. Esther told the king that Mordecai was related to her, and from then on Mordecai was allowed to enter the king’s presence. ²The king took off his ring with his seal on it (which he had taken back from Haman) and gave it to Mordecai. Esther put Mordecai in charge of Haman’s property.

³Then Esther spoke to the king again, throwing herself at his feet and crying. She begged him to do something to stop the evil plot that Haman, the descendant of Agag,^h had made against the Jews. ⁴The king held out the gold sceptre to her, so she stood up and said, ⁵“If it please Your Majesty, and if you care about me and if it seems right to you, please issue a proclamation to prevent Haman’s orders from being carried out—those orders that the son of Hammedatha the descendant of Agag gave for the destruction of all the Jews in the empire. ⁶How can I endure it if this disaster comes on my people, and my own relatives are killed?”

⁷King Xerxes then said to Queen Esther and Mordecai, the Jew, “Look, I have hanged Haman for his plot against the Jews, and I have given Esther his property. ⁸But a proclamation issued in the king’s name and stamped with the royal seal cannot be revoked. You may, however, write to the Jews whatever you wish; and you may write it in my name and stamp it with the royal seal.”

⁹This happened on the 23rd day of the third month, the month of Sivan. Mordecai called the king’s secretaries and dictated letters to the Jews and to the governors, administrators, and officials of all the 127 provinces from India to Ethiopia.ⁱ The letters were written to each province in its own language and system of writing and to the Jews in their language and system of writing. ¹⁰Mordecai had the letters written in the name of King Xerxes, and he stamped them with the royal seal. They were delivered by riders mounted on fast horses from the royal stables.

¹¹These letters explained that the king would allow the Jews in every city to organize themselves for self-defence. If armed men of any nationality in any province attacked the Jewish men, their children or their women, the Jews could fight back and destroy the attackers; they could slaughter them to the last man and take their possessions. ¹²This decree was to take effect throughout the Persian Empire on the day set for the slaughter of the Jews, the thirteenth of Adar, the twelfth month. ¹³It was to be proclaimed as law and made known to everyone in every province, so that the Jews would be ready to take revenge on their enemies when that day came. ¹⁴At the king’s command the riders mounted royal horses and rode off at top speed. The decree was also made public in Susa, the capital city.

¹⁵Mordecai left the palace, wearing royal robes of blue and white, a cloak of fine purple linen, and a magnificent gold crown. Then the streets of Susa rang with cheers and joyful shouts. ¹⁶For the Jews there was joy and relief, happiness and a sense of victory. ¹⁷In every city and province, wherever the king’s proclamation was read, the Jews held a joyful holiday with feasting and happiness. In fact, many other people became Jews, because they were afraid of them now.