Esther 8:3-17 (NRSV)
Queen Esther saves her people
Then Esther spoke again to the king; she fell at his feet,
weeping and pleading with him to avert the evil design of Haman the
Agagite and the plot that he had devised against the Jews. The king
held out the golden scepter to Esther, and Esther rose and stood before
the king. She said, "If it pleases the king, and if I have won his
favor, and if the thing seems right before the king, and I have his
approval, let an order be written to revoke the letters devised by Haman
son of Hammedatha the Agagite, which he wrote giving orders to destroy
the Jews who are in all the provinces of the king. For how can I bear
to see the calamity that is coming on my people? Or how can I bear to
see the destruction of my kindred?" Then King Ahasuerus said to Queen
Esther and to the Jew Mordecai, "See, I have given Esther the house of
Haman, and they have hanged him on the gallows, because he plotted to
lay hands on the Jews. You may write as you please with regard to the
Jews, in the name of the king, 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
cannot be revoked."
The king's secretaries 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, to the Jews
and to the satraps and the governors and the officials of the provinces
from India to Ethiopia, one hundred twenty-seven provinces, to every
province in its own script and to every people in its own language, and
also to the Jews in their script and their language. He wrote letters
in the name of King Ahasuerus, sealed them with the king's ring, and
sent them by mounted couriers riding on fast steeds bred from the royal
herd. By these letters the king allowed the Jews who were in every city
to assemble and defend their lives, to destroy, to kill, and to
annihilate any armed force of any people or province that might attack
them, with their children and women, and to plunder their goods on a
single day throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, on the
thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar. A copy
of the writ was to be issued as a decree in every province and
published to all peoples, and the Jews were to be ready on that day to
take revenge on their enemies. So the couriers, mounted on their swift
royal steeds, hurried out, urged by the king's command. The decree was
issued in the citadel of Susa.
Then Mordecai went out from the presence of the king, wearing
royal robes of blue and white, with a great golden crown and a mantle of
fine linen and purple, while the city of Susa shouted and rejoiced.
For the Jews there was light and gladness, joy and honor. In every
province and in every city, wherever the king's command and his edict
came, there was gladness and joy among the Jews, a festival and a
holiday. Furthermore, many of the peoples of the country professed to
be Jews, because the fear of the Jews had fallen upon them.
If you have questions about how to become a friend and follower of Jesus, please see the devotion entitled, “Come to Jesus” @ http://bit.ly/JVhaLta
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