8:1On that day King Ahasuerus gave to Queen Esther the house of Haman, the adversary of the Jews, and Mordecai went in before the face of the king. 8:1For Esther had confessed to him that he was her uncle. 8:2And the king took the ring which he had ordered to be taken back from Haman, and handed it over to Mordecai. 8:2And Esther set Mordecai over her house. 8:3Not content with these things, she fell down at the king's feet, and wept, and, speaking to him, begged that he would order the malice of Haman the Agagite, and his wicked schemes which he had devised against the Jews, to be made void.
8:4But he, by custom, stretched out the golden sceptre with his hand, by which the sign of clemency was shown: and she, rising up, stood before him, and said: "If it pleases the king, and if I have found favour in his eyes, and my plea does not seem to him to be contrary, I beg that by new letters the old letters of Haman, the plotter and enemy of the Jews, by which he had ordered them to perish in all the king's provinces, be corrected. 8:6For how shall I be able to bear the slaughter and killing of my people?" 8:7And King Ahasuerus answered Queen Esther, and Mordecai the Jew: "I have granted Haman's house to Esther, and I have ordered him to be fixed to a cross, because he dared to lay a hand on the Jews.
8:8Write therefore to the Jews, just as it pleases you, in the king's name, sealing the letters with my ring." 8:8For this was the custom, that no one dared to speak against letters which were sent in the king's name and had been sealed with his ring. 8:9And the scribes and copyists of the king having been summoned (now it was the time of the third month, which is called Sivan), on the twenty-third day of it letters were written, as Mordecai had wished, to the Jews, and to the princes, and the procurators and judges who presided over the one hundred and twenty-seven provinces from India as far as Ethiopia: to province and province, to people and people, according to their tongues and letters, and to the Jews, as they could read and hear.
8:10And the letters themselves, which were sent in the king's name, were sealed with his ring, and sent by post-riders: who, running about through all the provinces, were to forestall the old letters with new messages. 8:11To them the king gave command that they should meet with the Jews in every city, and instruct them to gather together in one, so that they might stand for their lives, and kill and destroy all their enemies, with their wives and children and whole households, and plunder their spoils. 8:12And one day of vengeance was appointed through all the provinces, that is, the thirteenth of the twelfth month, Adar. 8:13And the sum of the letter was this, that in all the lands and peoples which were subject to the rule of King Ahasuerus, it should be made known that the Jews were ready to take vengeance on their enemies.
8:14And the swift post-riders went out carrying the messages, and the king's edict was hung up in Susa. 8:15But Mordecai, going out from the palace and from the sight of the king, was shining in royal garments, namely of violet and sky blue, wearing a golden crown on his head, and wrapped in a cloak of silk and purple. 8:15And the whole city exulted and rejoiced. 8:16But to the Jews a new light seemed to rise, joy, honour, and dancing. 8:17Among all peoples, cities, and provinces, wherever the king's commands came, there was wonderful exultation, feasts and banquets, and a festal day: so much so that many of another race and sect joined themselves to their religion and ceremonies.
8:17For a great terror of the Jewish name had seized upon all.