Esther
8
- That same day King Xerxes gave Queen Esther
the estate of Haman, the enemy of the Jews. And Mordecai came into the presence
of the king, for Esther had told how he was related to her.
- The king took off his signet ring, which
he had reclaimed from Haman, and presented it to Mordecai. And Esther appointed
him over Haman's estate.
- Esther again pleaded with the king, falling
at his feet and weeping. She begged him to put an end to the evil plan of
Haman the Agagite, which he had devised against the Jews.
- Then the king extended the gold scepter
to Esther and she arose and stood before him.
- "If it pleases the king," she
said, "and if he regards me with favor and thinks it the right thing
to do, and if he is pleased with me, let an order be written overruling the
dispatches that Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, devised and wrote to
destroy the Jews in all the king's provinces.
- For how can I bear to see disaster fall
on my people? How can I bear to see the destruction of my family ?"
- King Xerxes replied to Queen Esther and
to Mordecai the Jew, "Because Haman attacked the Jews, I have given his
estate to Esther, and they have hanged him on the gallows.
- Now write another decree in the king's name
in behalf of the Jews as seems best to you, and seal it with the king's signet
ring -- for no document written in the king's name and sealed with his ring
can be revoked."
- At once the royal secretaries were summoned
-- on the twenty-third day of the third month, the month of Sivan. They wrote
out all Mordecai's orders to the Jews, and to the satraps, governors and nobles
of the 127 provinces stretching from India to Cush. These orders were written
in the script of each province and the language of each people and also to
the Jews in their own script and language.
- Mordecai wrote in the name of King Xerxes,
sealed the dispatches with the king's signet ring, and sent them by mounted
couriers, who rode fast horses especially bred for the king.
- The king's edict granted the Jews in every
city the right to assemble and protect themselves; to destroy, kill and annihilate
any armed force of any nationality or province that might attack them and
their women and children; and to plunder the property of their enemies.
- The day appointed for the Jews to do this
in all the provinces of King Xerxes was the thirteenth day of the twelfth
month, the month of Adar.
- A copy of the text of the edict was to be
issued as law in every province and made known to the people of every nationality
so that the Jews would be ready on that day to avenge themselves on their
enemies.
- The couriers, riding the royal horses, raced
out, spurred on by the king's command. And the edict was also issued in the
citadel of Susa.
- Mordecai left the king's presence wearing
royal garments of blue and white, a large crown of gold and a purple robe
of fine linen. And the city of Susa held a joyous celebration.
- For the Jews it was a time of happiness
and joy, gladness and honor.
- In every province and in every city, wherever
the edict of the king went, there was joy and gladness among the Jews, with
feasting and celebrating. And many people of other nationalities became Jews
because fear of the Jews had seized them.
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