On that day King Ahasuerus gave to Esther the queen the house of Haman, the adversary of the Jews; and Mordecai came before the king, for Esther had told what he was to her.
And the king took off his signet ring, which he had taken away from Haman, and gave it to Mordecai; and Esther set Mordecai over the house of Haman.
And Esther spoke again before the king, and fell before his feet, and wept and pleaded with him to take away the evil of Haman the Agagite, and his scheme that he had schemed against the Jews.
And the king held out to Esther the golden scepter; and Esther rose and stood before the king.
And she said, “If it is good to the king, and if I have found favor before him, and the thing is right before the king, and I am good in his eyes: let it be written to turn back the letters — the scheme of Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, which he wrote to destroy the Jews who are in all the king’s provinces.
For how could I bear to see the evil that will find my people? And how could I bear to see the destruction of my kindred?”
The Decree of Xerxes
And King Ahasuerus said to Esther the queen and to Mordecai the Jew, “Look — I have given the house of Haman to Esther, and him they have hanged on the tree, because he sent his hand against the Jews.
And you, write concerning the Jews as is good in your eyes, in the king’s name, and seal it with the king’s signet ring; for a writing that is written in the king’s name and sealed with the king’s signet ring — there is no turning it back.”
And the king’s scribes were called at that time, in the third month — that is the month Sivan — on the twenty-third of it; and it was written according to all that Mordecai commanded, to the Jews, and to the satraps and the governors and the officials of the provinces from India to Cush, a hundred and twenty-seven provinces — province and province according to its writing, and people and people according to its tongue; and to the Jews according to their writing and according to their tongue.
And he wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus, and sealed it with the king’s signet ring, and sent letters by the hand of the runners on horses, riders of the swift steeds, the royal ones, bred of the mares:
that the king had given to the Jews who were in every city to gather and to stand for their lives — to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate every armed force of a people or a province attacking them, children and women, and their plunder to spoil —
on one day, in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, on the thirteenth of the twelfth month, that is the month Adar.
A copy of the writing, to be given as law in province and province, was uncovered to all the peoples, and that the Jews should be ready for that day, to take vengeance on their enemies.
The runners, riders of the swift steeds, the royal ones, went out hurried and driven by the word of the king; and the law was given in Susa the fortress.
And Mordecai went out from before the king in a royal garment of blue and white, and a great crown of gold, and a robe of fine linen and purple; and the city of Susa shouted and rejoiced.
For the Jews there was light and gladness, and joy and honor.
And in province and province, and in city and city, the place where the word of the king and his law reached, there was gladness and joy for the Jews, a feast and a good day. And many of the peoples of the land were becoming Jews, for the dread of the Jews had fallen upon them.
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