¹On 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 .

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

³Esther 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 .

⁴Then the king held out to Esther the golden sceptre . So Esther arose , and stood before the king .

⁵She said , “If it pleases the king , and if I have found favour 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 all the king ’s provinces .

⁶For 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 ?”

⁷Then 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 .

⁸Write 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 .”

⁹Then 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 and 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 .

¹⁰He 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 .

¹¹In 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 ,

¹²on one day in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month , which is the month Adar.

¹³A 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.

¹⁴So 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 .

¹⁵Mordecai 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 .

¹⁶The Jews had light, gladness , joy , and honour .

¹⁷In 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 amongst the peoples of the land became Jews , for the fear of the Jews had fallen on them .