Esther 8–10

Chapter 8

Mordecai Promoted

¹On that day King Ahasuerus gave the house of Haman, ^athe enemy of the Jews, to Queen Esther; and Mordecai came before the king, for Esther had disclosed ^bwhat he was to her.

^2aThe king took off his signet ring which he had taken away from Haman, and gave it to Mordecai. And Esther set Mordecai over the house of Haman.

³Then Esther spoke again to the king, fell at his feet, wept and implored him to avert the evil scheme of Haman the Agagite and his plot which he had devised against the Jews.

^4aThe king extended the golden scepter to Esther. So Esther arose and stood before the king.

⁵Then she said, “^aIf it pleases the king and if I have found favor before him and the matter seems proper to the king and I am pleasing in his sight, let it be written to revoke the ^bletters devised by Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, which he wrote to destroy the Jews who are in all the king’s provinces.

⁶“For ^ahow can I endure to see the calamity which will befall my people, and how can I endure to see the destruction of my kindred?”

⁷So King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, “Behold, ^aI have given the house of Haman to Esther, and him they have hanged on the gallows because he had stretched out his hands against the Jews.

The King’s Decree Avenges the Jews

⁸“Now you write to the Jews ¹as you see fit, in the king’s name, and ^aseal it with the king’s signet ring; for a decree which is written in the name of the king and sealed with the king’s signet ring ^bmay not be revoked.”

^9aSo the king’s scribes were called at that time in the third month (that is, the month Sivan), on the twenty-third ¹day; and it was written according to all that Mordecai commanded to the Jews, the satraps, the governors and the princes of the provinces which extended ^bfrom India to ²Ethiopia, 127 provinces, to ^cevery province according to its script, and to every people according to their language as well as to the Jews according to their script and their language.

¹⁰He wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus, and sealed it with the king’s signet ring, and sent letters by couriers on ^ahorses, riding on steeds sired by the royal stud.

¹¹¹In them the king granted the Jews who were in each and every city the right ^ato assemble and to defend their lives, ^bto destroy, to kill and to annihilate the entire army of any people or province which might attack them, including children and women, and ^cto plunder their spoil,

¹²on ^aone day in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month (that is, the month Adar).

^13aA copy of the edict to be ¹issued as law in each and every province was published to all the peoples, so that the Jews would be ready for this day to avenge themselves on their enemies.

¹⁴The couriers, hastened and impelled by the king’s command, went out, riding on the royal steeds; and the decree was given out at the citadel in Susa.

¹⁵Then Mordecai went out from the presence of the king ^ain royal robes of ¹blue and white, with a large crown of gold and ^ba garment of fine linen and purple; and ^cthe city of Susa shouted and rejoiced.

¹⁶For the Jews there was ^alight and gladness and joy and honor.

¹⁷In each and every province and in each and every city, wherever the king’s commandment and his decree arrived, there was gladness and joy for the Jews, a feast and a ^1aholiday. And ^bmany among the peoples of the land became Jews, for the dread of the Jews had fallen on them.

Chapter 9

The Jews Destroy Their Enemies

¹Now ^ain the twelfth month (that is, the month Adar), on ^bthe thirteenth ¹day ^cwhen the king’s command and edict ²were about to be executed, on the day when the enemies of the Jews hoped to gain the mastery over them, it was turned to the contrary so that the Jews themselves gained the mastery over those who hated them.

^2aThe Jews assembled in their cities throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus to lay hands on those who sought their harm; and no one could stand before them, ^bfor the dread of them had fallen on all the peoples.

³Even all the princes of the provinces, ^athe satraps, the governors and those who were doing the king’s business ¹assisted the Jews, because the dread of Mordecai had fallen on them.

⁴Indeed, Mordecai was great in the king’s house, and his fame spread throughout all the provinces; for the man Mordecai ^abecame greater and greater.

⁵Thus ^athe Jews struck all their enemies with ¹the sword, killing and destroying; and they did what they pleased to those who hated them.

⁶At the citadel in Susa the Jews killed and destroyed five hundred men,

⁷and Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha,

⁸Poratha, Adalia, Aridatha,

⁹Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai and Vaizatha,

^10athe ten sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Jews’ enemy; but ^bthey did not lay their hands on the plunder.

¹¹On that day the number of those who were killed at the citadel in Susa ¹was reported to the king.

¹²The king said to Queen Esther, “The Jews have killed and destroyed five hundred men and the ten sons of Haman at the citadel in Susa. What then have they done in the rest of the king’s provinces! ^aNow what is your petition? It shall even be granted you. And what is your further request? It shall also be done.”

¹³Then said Esther, “If it pleases the king, ^alet tomorrow also be granted to the Jews who are in Susa to do according to the edict of today; and let Haman’s ten sons be hanged on the gallows.”

¹⁴So the king commanded that it should be done so; and an edict was issued in Susa, and Haman’s ten sons were hanged.

¹⁵The Jews who were in Susa assembled also on the fourteenth day of the month Adar and killed ^athree hundred men in Susa, but ^bthey did not lay their hands on the plunder.

¹⁶Now ^athe rest of the Jews who were in the king’s provinces ^bassembled, to defend their lives and ¹rid themselves of their enemies, and kill 75,000 of those who hated them; but they did not lay their hands on the plunder.

¹⁷This was done on ^athe thirteenth day of the month Adar, and ^bon the fourteenth ¹day they rested and made it a day of feasting and rejoicing.

¹⁸But the Jews who were in Susa ^aassembled on the thirteenth and ^bthe fourteenth ¹of the same month, and they rested on the fifteenth day and made it a day of feasting and rejoicing.

¹⁹Therefore the Jews of the rural areas, who live in ^athe rural towns, make the fourteenth day of the month Adar a ^1bholiday for rejoicing and feasting and ^csending portions of food to one another.

The Feast of Purim Instituted

²⁰Then Mordecai recorded these events, and he sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far,

²¹obliging them to celebrate the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and the fifteenth day ¹of the same month, annually,

²²because on those days the Jews ¹rid themselves of their enemies, and it was a month which was ^aturned for them from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a ²holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and rejoicing and ^bsending portions of food to one another and gifts to the poor.

²³Thus the Jews undertook what they had started to do, and what Mordecai had written to them.

²⁴For Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the adversary of all the Jews, had schemed against the Jews to destroy them and ^ahad cast Pur, that is the lot, to disturb them and destroy them.

²⁵But ^awhen it came ¹to the king’s attention, he commanded by letter ^bthat his wicked scheme which he had ²devised against the Jews, ^cshould return on his own head and that he and his sons should be hanged on the ³gallows.

²⁶Therefore they called these days Purim after the name of Pur. ¹And ^abecause of the instructions in this letter, both what they had seen in this regard and what had happened to them,

²⁷the Jews established and ¹made a custom for themselves and for their ²descendants and for ^aall those who allied themselves with them, so that ³they would not fail ^bto celebrate these two days according to their ⁴regulation and according to their appointed time annually.

²⁸So these days were to be remembered and celebrated throughout every generation, every family, every province and every city; and these days of Purim were not to ¹fail from among the Jews, or their memory ²fade from their ³descendants.

²⁹Then Queen Esther, ^adaughter of Abihail, with Mordecai the Jew, wrote with full authority to confirm ^bthis second letter about Purim.

³⁰He sent letters to all the Jews, ^ato the 127 provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, namely, words of peace and truth,

³¹to establish these days of Purim at their appointed times, just as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther had established for them, and just as they had established for themselves and for their ¹descendants with ²instructions ^afor their times of fasting and their lamentations.

³²The command of Esther established these ¹customs for ^aPurim, and it was written in the book.

Chapter 10

Mordecai’s Greatness

¹Now King Ahasuerus laid a tribute on the land and on the ^acoastlands of the sea.

²And all the ¹accomplishments of his authority and strength, and the full account of the greatness of Mordecai ^ato which the king ²advanced him, are they not written in ^bthe Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Media and Persia?

³For Mordecai the Jew was ^asecond only to King Ahasuerus, and great among the Jews and in favor with his many kinsmen, ^bone who sought the good of his people and one who spoke for the welfare of his whole nation.