²⁵ but ^(A)when ^[a]Esther came before the king, he commanded by letter that ^[b]this wicked plot which Haman had devised against the Jews should ^(B)return on his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows.

⁴⁴ And ^(A)whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, ^(B)it will grind him to powder.”

¹³ Then Esther said, “If it pleases the king, let it be granted to the Jews who are in Shushan to do again tomorrow ^(A)according to today’s decree, and let Haman’s ten sons ^(B)be hanged on the gallows.”

¹⁴ So the king commanded this to be done; the decree was issued in Shushan, and they hanged Haman’s ten sons.

⁵ So King Ahasuerus answered and said to Queen Esther, “Who is he, and where is he, who would dare presume in his heart to do such a thing?”

⁶ And Esther said, “The adversary and ^(A)enemy is this wicked Haman!”

So Haman was terrified before the king and queen.

⁷ Then the king arose in his wrath from the banquet of wine and went into the palace garden; but Haman stood before Queen Esther, pleading for his life, for he saw that evil was determined against him by the king. ⁸ When the king returned from the palace garden to the place of the banquet of wine, Haman had fallen across ^(B)the couch where Esther was. Then the king said, “Will he also assault the queen while I am in the house?”

As the word left the king’s mouth, they ^(C)covered Haman’s face. ⁹ Now ^(D)Harbonah, one of the eunuchs, said to the king, “Look! ^(E)The ^[a]gallows, fifty cubits high, which Haman made for Mordecai, who spoke ^(F)good on the king’s behalf, is standing at the house of Haman.”

Then the king said, “Hang him on it!”

¹⁰ So ^(G)they ^(H)hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the king’s wrath subsided.

Esther Saves the Jews

8 On that day King Ahasuerus gave Queen Esther the house of Haman, the ^(I)enemy of the Jews. And Mordecai came before the king, for Esther had told ^(J)how he was related to her. ² So the king took off ^(K)his signet ring, which he had taken from Haman, and gave it to Mordecai; and Esther appointed Mordecai over the house of Haman.

³ Now Esther spoke again to the king, fell down at his feet, and implored him with tears to counteract the evil of Haman the Agagite, and the scheme which he had devised against the Jews. ⁴ And ^(L)the king held out the golden scepter toward Esther. So Esther arose and stood before the king, ⁵ and 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 revoke the ^(M)letters devised by Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, which he wrote to annihilate the Jews who are in all the king’s provinces. ⁶ For how can I endure to see ^(N)the evil that will come to my people? Or how can I endure to see the destruction of my countrymen?”

⁷ Then King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther and Mordecai the Jew, “Indeed, ^(O)I have given Esther the house of Haman, and they have hanged him on the gallows because he tried to lay his hand on the Jews. ⁸ You yourselves write a decree concerning the Jews, ^[b]as you please, in the king’s name, and seal it with the king’s signet ring; for whatever is written in the king’s name and sealed with the king’s signet ring ^(P)no one can revoke.”

^9 (Q)So the king’s scribes were called at that time, in the third month, which is the month of Sivan, on the twenty-third day; and it was written, according to all that Mordecai commanded, to the Jews, the satraps, the governors, and the princes of the provinces ^(R)from India to Ethiopia, one hundred and twenty-seven provinces in all, to every province ^(S)in its own script, to every people in their own language, and to the Jews in their own script and language. ^10 (T)And he wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus, sealed it with the king’s signet ring, and sent letters by couriers on horseback, riding on royal horses ^[c]bred from swift steeds.

¹¹ By these letters the king permitted the Jews who were in every city to ^(U)gather together and protect their lives—to ^(V)destroy, kill, and annihilate all the forces of any people or province that would assault them, both little children and women, and to plunder their possessions, ^12 (W)on one day in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of ^[d]Adar. ^13 (X)A copy of the document was to be issued as a decree in every province and published for all people, so that the Jews would be ready on that day to avenge themselves on their enemies. ¹⁴ The couriers who rode on royal horses went out, hastened and pressed on by the king’s command. And the decree was issued in ^[e]Shushan the ^[f]citadel.