Esther 8

1 On 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. ‡ Est 2:7Est 2:15Pro 13:22Job 27:16-17Psa 39:6Est 7:6Luk 12:20Ecc 2:18-19 +32 The king took off his ring, which he had taken from Haman, and gave it to Mordecai. Esther set Mordecai over the house of Haman. ‡ Est 3:10Dan 2:48Gen 41:42Luk 15:22Psa 37:342Sa 9:7-10Ecc 2:18-26Ecc 5:13-14 +1

3 Esther 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. ‡ 1Sa 25:242Ki 4:27Est 3:8-15Est 7:4Heb 5:7Hos 12:4Isa 38:2 4 Then the king held out to Esther the golden scepter. So Esther arose, and stood before the king. ‡ Est 5:2Est 4:11 5 She said, “If it pleases the king, and if I have found favor 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. ‡ Est 7:3Est 3:12-13Est 5:81Sa 20:29Est 2:17Est 2:4Exo 33:13Exo 33:16 6 For 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?” ‡ Est 7:4Rom 10:1Rom 9:2-3Est 9:1Gen 44:34Jer 4:19Jer 9:1Luk 19:41-42 +1

7 Then 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. ‡ Est 7:10Gal 3:13Pro 13:22 8 Write 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.” ‡ Est 1:19Est 3:121Ki 21:8Dan 6:12-15Dan 6:8Est 8:5Heb 6:17-182Ti 2:19 +1

9 Then 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 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. ‡ Est 1:22Est 1:11Co 14:9-112Ki 18:26Dan 4:1Dan 6:1Est 3:12-13 10 He 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. ‡ Dan 4:1Ecc 8:4Isa 60:6Isa 66:20Jer 2:23Jer 51:211Ki 21:81Ki 4:28 +311 In 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, ‡ Est 3:13Psa 37:14-15Ezk 39:10Psa 146:6-9Est 9:2-16Psa 137:8Psa 68:3Isa 10:6 12 on one day in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar. ‡ Est 9:1Est 3:13-15Exo 15:9-10Jdg 1:6-7 13 A 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. ‡ Est 3:14Rev 6:10Jdg 16:28Luk 18:7Psa 149:6-9Psa 37:14-15Psa 68:23Psa 92:10-11 14 So 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. ‡ Dan 8:2Est 3:15Ecc 9:10Est 2:31Sa 21:8Est 1:2Neh 1:1

15 Mordecai 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. ‡ Luk 16:19Est 1:6Est 3:15Est 5:1Est 6:8Gen 41:42Mat 6:29Pro 29:2 +216 The Jews had light, gladness, joy, and honor. ‡ Pro 11:10Psa 97:11Psa 18:28Est 4:1-3Psa 30:5-11Est 9:17Isa 35:10Psa 112:4 +317 In 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 among the peoples of the land became Jews, for the fear of the Jews had fallen on them. ‡ Deu 11:25Est 9:191Sa 25:8Est 9:2Psa 18:43Zec 8:20-23Deu 2:25Est 9:22 +5