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Esther / Mordecai Elevated and a New Decree Permits Jewish Defense
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Mordecai Elevated and a New Decree Permits Jewish Defense

Esther 8:1-17

8
Chapter 8
1 On that day King Ahasuerus gave Queen Esther the house of Haman, the enemy of the Jews. Mordecai came before the king, for she had told what he was to her. 2 And the king removed his ring, which he had taken from Haman, and gave it to Mordecai. And Esther set Mordecai over the house of Haman. 3 Esther spoke again before the king. She fell at his feet, wept, and begged him to pass over the evil of Haman the Agagite and his thought that he thought against the Jews. 4 Then the king extended the golden scepter to Esther, and Esther arose and stood before the king. 5 And she said, "If it seems good to the king, and if I have found favor in his sight, and if the matter is right before the king, and if I am pleasing in his eyes, let him revoke the documents devised by Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, which he wrote to destroy the Jews who are in all the king's provinces." 6 For how can I endure to see the evil that will come upon my people, and how can I endure to see the destruction of my kindred? 7 King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, "Behold, I have given Haman's house to Esther, and they hanged them on the wood because he sent his hand against the Jews." 8 And you may write concerning the Jews as seems good to you in the name of the king, and seal it with the king's ring; for a document that is written in the name of the king and sealed with the king's ring may not be revoked. 9 Then the king's scribes were summoned at that time, in the third month (that is, the month of Sivan), on the twenty-third day of it; and Mordecai wrote according to all that he commanded to the Jews, the satraps, the governors, and the officials of the provinces from India to Cush, one hundred twenty-seven provinces, province by province, people by people in its language, and to the Jews in their script and their language. 10 He wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed it with the king's ring. And he sent letters by the hand of couriers on horses, riders on the king's swift steeds, sons of the mares. 11 which the king gave the Jews in every city to assemble and to stand for their lives, to destroy and to kill and to annihilate all the power of any people and province that oppressed them, little ones and women, and to plunder their spoil. 12 On one day in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month (that is, the month of Adar), in the thirteenth year. 13 to publish the writing, to give a law in every province, revealed to all the peoples, and that the Jews should be ready on this day to avenge themselves on their enemies. 14 The couriers, riders on the royal mounts, went out, hastening and pressed by the king's command. And the decree was given in Susa the capital. 15 Mordecai went out from the king in royal apparel of violet and white linen, a large gold crown, and a fine cloth of linen and purple. The city of Susa shouted for joy and rejoiced. 16 To the Jews there was light, joy, gladness, and honor. 17 And in every province and in every city, wherever the king's word and his decree came, there was joy and gladness for the Jews, a feast and a good day. And many from the peoples of the land became Jews, for the fear of the Jews had fallen on them.