The Jews Are Allowed to Fight for Their Lives

8 On that day King Ahasuerus gave everything Haman owned, the one who hated the Jews, to Queen Esther. Mordecai came to the king, for Esther had told him what he was to her. ² The king took off the ring he used for marking his name, which he had taken away from Haman, and gave it to Mordecai. And Esther put Mordecai over everything Haman had owned.

³ Then Esther spoke again to the king. She fell at his feet and cried and begged him to stop the sinful plan of Haman the Agagite, the plan he had made against the Jews. ⁴ The king held out the special golden stick toward Esther. So she got up and stood in front of the king. ⁵ Then she said, “If it pleases the king and if I have his favor, if the king thinks it is right and if I am pleasing in his eyes, let letters be written to keep Haman’s letters from being carried out. The letters Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, wrote would destroy the Jews in all the king’s nation. ⁶ For how can I stand to see all the trouble that will come to my people? How can I keep on if I see them destroyed?” ⁷ So King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, “See, I have given everything Haman owned to Esther. They have hanged him on the tower because he had wanted to destroy all the Jews. ⁸ Now you write whatever pleases you about the Jews, in the king’s name, and mark it with the king’s special ring. For what is written in the king’s name and marked with the king’s special ring may not be changed.”

⁹ So the king’s writers were called at that time, on the twenty-third day of the third month, the month of Sivan. All that Mordecai said was written and sent to the Jews, the rulers, the leaders, and the princes of the 127 parts of the nation from India to Ethiopia. The letters were sent to every land in its own writing and to every people in their own language. And they were sent to the Jews in their own writing and language. ¹⁰ He wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus and marked it with the king’s special ring. He sent the letters by men on fast horses used in the king’s work, raised from the king’s best male horse. ¹¹ In the letters the king allowed the Jews who were in every city the right to gather together to fight for their lives. He gave them the right to destroy, kill, and do away with the whole army of any people or nation which might come to fight against them. They were given the right to kill even the children and women, and to take whatever belonged to them. ¹² On one day in all the nation of King Ahasuerus, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar, they were to do this. ¹³ The letter was law in every part of the nation and was sent to all the people, so the Jews would be ready on that day to stand against those who hated them. ¹⁴ The men went out in a hurry on the fast horses that were used for the king’s work, just as the king told them. And the letter was made known in the city of Susa where the king ruled.

¹⁵ Then Mordecai went out from the king wearing king’s clothing of blue and white, with a large gold crown and a long coat of fine linen and purple cloth. The people in the city of Susa were filled with joy and called out in loud voices. ¹⁶ For the Jews it was a time of joy and happiness and honor. ¹⁷ In every part of the nation and in every city where the king’s law had come, there was happiness and joy for the Jews, a special supper and a good day. And many people who had come there from other countries became Jews because they were afraid of the Jews.