King James VersionEsther8

Esther

1 On that day did the king Aha­suerus give the house of Haman the Jews' en­e­my unto Es­ther the queen. And Morde­cai came be­fore the king; for Es­ther had told what he was unto her. 2 And the king took off his ring, which he had tak­en from Haman, and gave it unto Morde­cai. And Es­ther set Morde­cai over the house of Haman. 3 And Es­ther spake yet again be­fore the king, and fell down at his feet, and be­sought him with tears to put away the mis­chief of Haman the Agagite, and his de­vice that he had de­vised against the Jews. 4 Then the king held out the gold­en scep­tre to­ward Es­ther. So Es­ther arose, and stood be­fore the king, 5 And said, If it please the king, and if I have found favour in his sight, and the thing seem right be­fore the king, and I be 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 which are in all the king's provinces: 6 For how can I en­dure to see the evil that shall come unto my peo­ple? or how can I en­dure to see the de­struc­tion of my kin­dred? 7 Then the king Aha­suerus said unto Es­ther the queen and to Morde­cai the Jew, Be­hold, I have giv­en Es­ther the house of Haman, and him they have hanged upon the gal­lows, be­cause he laid his hand upon the Jews. 8 Write ye also for the Jews, as it liketh 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 no man re­verse. 9 Then were the king's scribes called at that time in the third month, that is, the month Sivan, on the three and twen­ti­eth day there­of; and it was writ­ten ac­cord­ing to all that Morde­cai com­mand­ed unto the Jews, and to the lieu­tenants, and the deputies and rulers of the provinces which are from In­dia unto Ethiopia, an hun­dred twen­ty and sev­en provinces, unto ev­ery province ac­cord­ing to the writ­ing there­of, and unto ev­ery peo­ple af­ter their lan­guage, and to the Jews ac­cord­ing to their writ­ing, and ac­cord­ing to their lan­guage. 10 And he wrote in the king Aha­suerus' name, and sealed it with the king's ring, and sent let­ters by posts on horse­back, and rid­ers on mules, camels, and young dromedaries: 11 Where­in the king grant­ed the Jews which were in ev­ery city to gath­er them­selves to­geth­er, and to stand for their life, to de­stroy, to slay, and to cause to per­ish, all the pow­er of the peo­ple and province that would as­sault them, both lit­tle ones and wom­en, and ­to take the spoil of them for a prey, 12 Upon one day in all the provinces of king Aha­suerus, namely, upon the thir­teenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar. 13 The copy of the writ­ing for a com­mand­ment to be giv­en in ev­ery province was pub­lished unto all peo­ple, and that the Jews should be ready against that day to avenge them­selves on their en­e­mies. 14 So the posts that rode upon mules and camels went out, be­ing has­tened and pressed on by the king's com­mand­ment. And the de­cree was giv­en at Shushan the palace. 15 And Morde­cai went out from the pres­ence of the king in roy­al ap­par­el of blue and white, and with a great crown of gold, and with a gar­ment of fine linen and pur­ple: and the city of Shushan re­joiced and was glad. 16 The Jews had light, and glad­ness, and joy, and hon­our. 17 And in ev­ery province, and in ev­ery city, whith­er­so­ev­er the king's com­mand­ment and his de­cree came, the Jews had joy and glad­ness, a feast and a good day. And many of the peo­ple of the land be­came Jews; for the fear of the Jews fell upon them.