Esther 8–10

Mordecai is Promoted

8On that day King Ahasuerus gave Queen Esther the house of Haman, the enemy of the Jews; and Mordecai came before the king, for Esther had told what he was to her. ²And the king removed his signet ring that he had taken away from Haman, and he gave it to Mordecai. So Esther set Mordecai over the house of Haman.

³And Esther again spoke before the king, and she fell before his feet and wept, pleading for his grace to avert Haman the Agagite’s evil plan and the plot that he devised against the Jews. ⁴And the king held out to Esther the scepter of gold, and Esther rose and stood before the king, ⁵and she said, “If it is good to the king, and if I have found favor before him,^a and if the king is pleased with this matter, and I have his approval,^b let an edict be written to revoke the letters of the plans of Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, which he wrote to destroy the Jews that are in all the provinces of the king. ⁶For how can I bear^c to look on the disaster that will find my people, and how can I bear^d to look on the destruction of my family?” ⁷And King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, “Look, I have given Haman’s house to Esther, and they have hanged him on the gallows because he plotted against^e the Jews. ⁸Write as you see fit^f concerning the Jews in the name of the king, and seal it with the king’s signet ring; for a decree that is written in the name of the king and sealed with the king’s signet ring cannot be revoked.”

⁹And the secretaries of the king were summoned^g at that time, in the third month, which is in the month of Sivan on the twenty-third day, and an edict was written according to all that Mordecai commanded, to the Jews and to the governors and satraps and officials of the provinces from India to Cush^h—one hundred and twenty-seven provincesⁱ—each province according to its own script and to every people in their own language,^j and to the Jews in their own script and language. ¹⁰And he wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus, and he sealed the letters with the king’s signet ring and sent them^k by couriers on horses, riding on royal horses bred by^l racing mares.^{m 11}In them the king allowed the Jews who were in every city to assemble and defend their lives,ⁿ to destroy and kill and annihilate any army of any people or province attacking them, including women and children, and to plunder their spoil, ¹²in one day in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar. ¹³A copy of the edict^o was to be given as law in each province to inform all the people, so that the Jews would be ready^p on that day to avenge themselves from their enemies. ¹⁴The mounted couriers on the royal horses went out without delay, urged by the king’s word. The law was given in the citadel of Susa.

¹⁵Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal clothing^q of blue cloth and white linen, and a great crown of gold and a robe of fine white linen and purple, and the city of Susa was shouting and rejoicing. ¹⁶For the Jews, there was light and gladness, joy and honor. ¹⁷In every province and city, wherever the king’s edict and his law came, there was gladness and joy for the Jews, a banquet and a holiday,^r and many of the people from the country were posing as Jews because the fear of the Jews had fallen on them.

The Jews Destroy Their Enemies

9In the twelfth month, that is the month of Adar, on the thirteenth day, on which the edict of the king arrived and his law was enacted, on the day in which the enemies of the Jews had hoped to gain power over them but was overturned, and the Jews gained power against their enemies, ²the Jews gathered in their cities in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus to strike against^a those who sought their destruction, and no one could withstand them,^b as the fear of them fell on all the people. ³All the officials of the provinces, the satraps, governors, and those who did the work of the king^c were supporting the Jews, because the fear of Mordecai had fallen on them. ⁴For Mordecai was high-ranking in the king’s palace^d and his fame spread throughout all the provinces as Mordecai grew more and more powerful.^{e 5}The Jews struck down all their enemies with the sword,^f killing and destroying them; and they did as they pleased with those that hated them. ⁶And in the citadel of Susa the Jews killed and destroyed five hundred men,⁷and Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha, ⁸Portha, Adalia, Aridatha, ⁹Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai, and Vaizatha, ¹⁰the ten sons of Haman, the son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews; but they did not touch^g the plunder.

¹¹On that day the number of those being killed in the citadel of Susa was reported to^h the king. ¹²And the king said to Queen Esther, “In the citadel of Susa the Jews killed and destroyed five hundred men and the ten sons of Haman. What have they done in the rest of the king’s provinces? What is your petition? It will be granted to you. And what further is your request? It will be done.” ¹³Esther replied, “If it is good to the king, let tomorrow also be granted to the Jews who are in Susa to do according to the edict of today; and let them hang Haman’s ten sons on the gallows.” ¹⁴And the king said to do so. And a decree was issued in Susa and Haman’s ten sons were hanged. ¹⁵And the Jews were gathered who were in Susa, and on the fourteenth day of the month of Adar and they killed in Susa three hundred men, but they did not touchⁱ the plunder.

¹⁶The rest of the Jews who were in the king’s provinces gathered and defended their lives^j and found repose^k from their enemies. And they killed seventy-five thousand of those that hated them, but they did not touch^l the plunder. ¹⁷This was on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar. They rested on the fourteenth day and made it a day of feasting and joy. ¹⁸But the Jews who were in Susa gathered on the thirteenth and on the fourteenth day, and rested on the fifteenth day. And they made it a day of feasting and joy. ¹⁹Therefore the Jews in the rural areas, living in the rural towns, made the fourteenth month of Adar a day of joy and feasting, a festive day of giving gifts to each other.

The Feast of Purim

²⁰Mordecai wrote down these things and he sent letters to all the Jews who were in all of the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far, ²¹to impose on them to keep the fourteenth day of the month of Adar, and the fifteenth day, every year,^{m 22}as the day that the Jews found reliefⁿ from their enemies, and the month which changed for them from sorrow to joy, and from a mourning ceremony to a festive day;^o to make them days of feasting and joy, and giving gifts to each other and to the poor. ²³And the Jews adopted what they had begun to do and what Mordecai had written to them.

²⁴For Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews had plotted against the Jews to destroy them, and he had cast pur, that is the lot, to rout them out and destroy them. ²⁵But when it came^p to the attention of^q the king, he gave orders in writing^r that his evil plot that he had devised against the Jews should return on his head, and they hung him and his sons on the gallows. ²⁶Therefore they called these days Purim, because of the name Pur. Thus because of all the words of this letter, and of what they faced concerning this, and of what had happened to them, ²⁷the Jews established and adopted it for themselves and for their offspring, and for all who joined them. They did not neglect to observe^s these two days every year as it was written and appointed to them. ²⁸These days are to be remembered and are to be kept in every generation, and in family, province, and city; and these days of Purim are not to be neglected among the Jews, and their memory shall not come to an end among their offspring.

²⁹So Queen Esther the daughter of Abihail and Mordecai the Jew wrote in full authority to confirm this second letter of Purim. ³⁰He sent letters of words of peace and truth to all the Jews, to the one hundred and twenty-seven provinces^t of Ahasuerus’ kingdom, ³¹to establish these days of Purim at their appointed times, just as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther had imposed, and just as they had imposed on themselves and their offspring regulations of the fast and their lament. ³²And the command of Esther established these practices of Purim, and it was written on the scroll.

Title

10King Ahasuerus imposed forced labor on the land and islands of the sea. ²All the work of his authority and his powerful deeds,^a and the full accounting of the greatness of Mordecai, to which the king advanced him, are they not written on the scroll of the chronicles^b of the kings of Media and Persia? ³For Mordecai the Jew was second-in-command to King Ahasuerus. He was great for the Jews and popular with many of his brothers, for he sought good for his people, interceding for the welfare of all his descendants.^c