⁵ “If it pleases the king,” she said, “and if he regards me with favor^(A) 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.

³ Then Queen Esther answered, “If I have found favor^(A) with you, Your Majesty, and if it pleases you, grant me my life—this is my petition. And spare my people—this is my request.

⁸ If the king regards me with favor^(A) and if it pleases the king to grant my petition and fulfill my request, let the king and Haman come tomorrow to the banquet^(B) I will prepare for them. Then I will answer the king’s question.”

¹² Then on the thirteenth day of the first month the royal secretaries were summoned. They wrote out in the script of each province and in the language^(A) of each people all Haman’s orders to the king’s satraps, the governors of the various provinces and the nobles of the various peoples. These were written in the name of King Xerxes himself and sealed^(B) with his own ring. ¹³ Dispatches were sent by couriers to all the king’s provinces with the order to destroy, kill and annihilate all the Jews^(C)—young and old, women and children—on a single day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar,^(D) and to plunder^(E) their goods.

¹⁷ Now the king was attracted to Esther more than to any of the other women, and she won his favor and approval more than any of the other virgins. So he set a royal crown on her head and made her queen^(A) instead of Vashti.

⁴ Then let the young woman who pleases the king be queen instead of Vashti.” This advice appealed to the king, and he followed it.

²⁹ He said, ‘Let me go, because our family is observing a sacrifice^(A) in the town and my brother has ordered me to be there. If I have found favor in your eyes, let me get away to see my brothers.’ That is why he has not come to the king’s table.”

¹⁶ How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us?^(A) What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?”^(B)

¹³ If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways^(A) so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people.”^(B)