Estĕr (Esther) 8

¹On that day Sovereign Aḥashwĕrosh gave to Sovereigness Estĕr the house of Haman, the adversary of the Yehuḏim. And Mordeḵai came before the sovereign, for Estĕr had explained what he was to her.

²And the sovereign took off his signet ring, which he had taken from Haman, and gave it to Mordeḵai. And Estĕr appointed Mordeḵai over the house of Haman.

³And Estĕr spoke to the sovereign again, and fell down at his feet and begged him with tears to put an end to the evil of Haman the Aḡaḡite, and his plot which he had plotted against the Yehuḏim.

⁴And the sovereign held out the golden sceptre toward Estĕr. And Estĕr arose and stood before the sovereign,

⁵and said, “If it pleases the sovereign, and if I have found favour in his sight and the matter is right before the sovereign and I am pleasing in his eyes, let it be written to bring back the letters, the plot by Haman, son of Hammeḏatha the Aḡaḡite, which he wrote to destroy the Yehuḏim who are in all the sovereign’s provinces.

⁶“For how could I bear to see the evil coming to my people? Or how could I bear to see the destruction of my relatives?”

⁷And Sovereign Aḥashwĕrosh said to Sovereigness Estĕr and Mordeḵai the Yehuḏi, “Look, I have given Estĕr the house of Haman, and they have hanged him on the wooden structure because he laid his hand on the Yehuḏim.

⁸“Now you write on behalf of the Yehuḏim, as it pleases you, in the sovereign’s name, and seal it with the sovereign’s signet ring. For a letter which is written in the sovereign’s name and sealed with the sovereign’s signet ring no one turns back.”

⁹So the sovereign’s scribes were called at that time, in the third new moon , which is the new moon of Siwan, on the twenty-third day. And it was written, according to all that Mordeḵai commanded to the Yehuḏim, and to the viceroys, and the governors, and the princes of the provinces from India to Kush, a hundred and twenty-seven provinces, to every province in its own writing, to every people in their own language, and to the Yehuḏim in their own writing, and in their own language.

¹⁰And he wrote in the name of Sovereign Aḥashwĕrosh, and sealed it with the sovereign’s signet ring, and sent letters by runners on horseback, riding on royal horses bred from speedy mares:

¹¹That the sovereign has granted to the Yehuḏim who were in every city to be assembled and stand for their lives – to cut off, to kill, and to destroy all the power of the people or province that would distress them, little children and women, and to plunder their possessions,

¹²on one day in all the provinces of Sovereign Aḥashwĕrosh, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth new moon , which is the new moon of Aḏar.

¹³The copy of the writing to be made law in every province was announced to all the peoples, so that the Yehuḏim would be ready on that day to be avenged on their enemies.

¹⁴The runners, riding on royal horses, went out, hastened and pressed on by the sovereign’s command. And the decree was given out in the citadel of Shushan.

¹⁵And Mordeḵai went out from the presence of the sovereign wearing royal garments of blue and white, with a great crown of gold and a garment of fine linen and purple. And the city of Shushan rejoiced and was glad.

¹⁶For the Yehuḏim there was light and gladness and joy and value.

¹⁷And in every province and in every city where the sovereign’s command and decree came, the Yehuḏim had joy and gladness, a feast and a good day. And many of the people of the land were becoming Yehuḏim, for the fear of the Yehuḏim had fallen upon them.