The In-Dept Study of the Bible
Esther 08
1 On that day, King Ahasuerus gave the
house of Haman, the Jews’ enemy, to Esther
the queen. Mordecai came before the king;
for Esther had told what he was to her.
2 The king took off his ring, which he had
taken from Haman, and gave it to Mordecai. Esther set Mordecai over the house of
Haman.
3 Esther spoke yet again before the king,
and fell down at his feet and begged him
with tears to put away the mischief of
Haman the Agagite, and his plan that he
had planned against the Jews.
4 Then the king held out to Esther the
golden scepter. So Esther arose, and stood
before the king.
5 She said, “If it pleases the king, and if
I have found favor in his sight, and the
thing seems right to the king, and I am
pleasing in his eyes, let it be written to
reverse the letters devised by Haman, the
son of Hammedatha the Agagite, which he
wrote to destroy the Jews who are in allthe
king’s provinces.
6 For how can I endure to see the evil
that would come to my people? How can
I endure to see the destruction of my relatives?”
7 Then King Ahasuerus said to Esther
the queen and to Mordecai the Jew, “See,
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 Write also to the Jews as it pleases you,
in the king’s name, and seal it with the
king’s ring;for the writing which is written
in the king’s name, and sealed with the
king’s ring, may not be reversed by any
man.”
9 Then the king’s scribes were called at
that time, in the third month, which is the
month Sivan, on the twenty-third day of
the month; and it was written according to
all that Mordecai commanded to the Jews,
and to the local governors, and the governors and princes
of the provinces which are from India to Ethiopia, one hundred
twenty-seven provinces, to every province
according to its writing, and to every people
in their language, and to the Jews in
their writing, and in their language.
10 He wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus, and sealed it with the king’s ring,
and sent letters by courier on horseback,
riding on royal horses that were bred from
swift steeds.
11 In those letters, the king granted the
Jews who were in every city to gather
themselves together and to defend their
lives—to destroy, to kill, and to cause to
perish all the power of the people and
province that would assault them, their little ones and women, and to plunder their
possessions,
12 on one day in all the provinces of King
Ahasuerus, on the thirteenth day of the
twelfth month, which is the month Adar.
13 A copy of the letter, that the decree
should be given out in every province, was
published to all the peoples, that the Jews
should be ready for that day to avenge
themselves on their enemies.
14 So the couriers who rode on royal
horses went out, hastened and pressed on
by the king’s commandment. The decree
was given out in the citadel of Susa.
15 Mordecai went out of the presence
of the king in royal clothing of blue and
white, and with a great crown of gold, and
with a robe of fine linen and purple; and
the city of Susa shouted and was glad.
16 The Jews had light, gladness, joy, and
honor.
17 In every province and in every city,
wherever the king’s commandment and
his decree came, the Jews had gladness,
joy, a feast and a holiday. Many from
among the peoples of the land became
Jews, for the fear of the Jews had fallen on
them.