Esther Saves the Jews

8 On that day King Ahasuerus gave to Queen Esther the house of Haman, ^(A)the enemy of the Jews. And Mordecai came before the king, for Esther had told ^(B)what he was to her. ^2 (C)And the king took off his signet ring, which he had taken from Haman, and gave it to Mordecai. And Esther set Mordecai over the house of Haman.

³ Then Esther spoke again to the king. She fell at his feet and wept and pleaded with him to avert the evil plan of Haman ^(D)the Agagite and the plot that he had devised against the Jews. ^4 (E)When the king held out the golden scepter to Esther, Esther rose and stood before the king. ⁵ And she said, “If it please the king, ^(F)and if I have found favor in his sight, and if the thing seems right before the king, and I am pleasing in his eyes, let an order be written to revoke ^(G)the letters devised by Haman ^(H)the Agagite, the son of Hammedatha, which he wrote to destroy the Jews who are in all the provinces of the king. ⁶ For how can I bear ^(I)to see the calamity that is coming to my people? Or how can I bear to see the destruction of my kindred?” ⁷ Then King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, “Behold, ^(J)I have given Esther the house of Haman, and they have hanged him on the gallows,^[a] because he intended to lay hands on the Jews. ⁸ But you may write as you please with regard to the Jews, in the name of the king, ^(K)and seal it with the king's ring, for an edict written in the name of the king and sealed with the king's ring ^(L)cannot be revoked.”

^9 (M)The king's scribes were summoned at that time, in the third month, which is the month of Sivan, on the twenty-third day. And an edict was written, according to all that Mordecai commanded concerning the Jews, to ^(N)the satraps and the governors and the officials of the provinces ^(O)from India to Ethiopia, ^(P)127 provinces, ^(Q)to each province in its own script and to each people in its own language, and also to the Jews in their script and their language.