¹On that day, King Ahasuerus gave the house of Haman, the enemy of the Jews, to Esther the queen. And Mordecai came before the king, for Esther had told him what relation he was to her. ²And the king removed his ring which he had taken away from Haman, and he gave it to Mordecai. And Esther appointed Mordecai over Haman's house. ³And Esther spoke again before the king, and she fell at his feet, and she wept and implored him to revoke the evil of Haman the Agagite, and his plan which he had plotted against the Jews. ⁴And the king extended his golden sceptre to Esther, and Esther arose and stood before the king. ⁵And she said, “If the king approves, and if I have found favour in his sight, and the matter is fitting to the king, and if I am agreeable in his sight, let it be written to rescind the letters of the plot of Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, which he wrote, to destroy the Jews who are in all the king's provinces. ⁶For how could I endure and see the evil which would come upon my people, and how could I endure and see the elimination of my kin?” ⁷And King Ahasuerus said to Esther the queen and to Mordecai the Jew, “Look, I have given the house of Haman to Esther, and they have hanged him on the gallows, because he laid his hands on the Jews. ⁸Write to the Jews as seems right in your sight, in the name of the king, and seal it with the king's ring, for any writing which is written in the name of the king and is sealed with the king's seal cannot be rescinded.” ⁹And the king's scribes were called at that time, in the third month – that is the month of Sivan – on the twenty-third day in it, and it was written according to everything that Mordecai commanded the Jews and the satraps and the governors and the officials of the provinces which are from India to Ethiopia – one hundred and twenty-seven provinces – to each individual province according to its script, and to each individual people according to their language, and to the Jews according to their script and according to their language. ¹⁰And he wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus, and he sealed it with the king's seal, and he sent the letters by the agency of couriers on horses – or rather riders of royal mule stallions, being the offspring of royal mares – ¹¹that the king allowed the Jews who were in each individual city to be gathered and to take a stand for their lives, and to destroy and to kill and to eliminate every army of a people or province hostile to them, children and women, and to plunder their spoil, ¹²on one day, in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, that is the month of Adar. ¹³A transcript of the writing was to be issued as a decree in every individual province, published to all the various peoples, and for the Jews to be prepared for that day, to avenge themselves of their enemies. ¹⁴The couriers riding on royal mule stallions went out hastening and pressing on at the king's word, and the decree was issued at the citadel of Shushan. ¹⁵And Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal clothing, in blue material, and white linen, and a large golden crown, and a robe of fine linen, and purple material. And the city of Shushan rejoiced and was glad. ¹⁶The Jews had prosperity and joy and happiness and honour. ¹⁷And in every individual province, and in every individual city – every place where the word of the king and his decree arrived – the Jews had joy and happiness. They held a feast and a holiday, and many of the people of the land became Jews, for the fear of the Jews had fallen on them.