Esther 8:7-14

The King’s Decree Avenges the Jews

7 So King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, “Behold, ^aI have given the house of Haman to Esther, and him they have hanged on the ¹gallows because he had sent forth his hand against the Jews. 8 Now you write to the Jews, according to what is good in your eyes, in the king’s name, and ^aseal it with the king’s signet ring; for a written decree which is written in the name of the king and sealed with the king’s signet ring ^bmay not be turned back.”
9 ^aSo the king’s scribes were called at that time in the third month (that is, the month Sivan), on the twenty-third ¹day; and it was written according to all that Mordecai commanded to the Jews, the satraps, the governors, and the princes of the provinces which extended ^bfrom India to ²Ethiopia, 127 provinces, to ^cevery province according to its script, and to every people according to their tongue as well as to the Jews according to their script and their tongue. 10 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 couriers on ^ahorses, riding on steeds sired by the ¹royal stud. 11 ¹In them the king gave the Jews who were in each and every city the right ^ato assemble and to make a stand for their lives, ^bto destroy, to kill, and to cause to perish the entire military force of any people or province which would act as their adversaries, including little ones and women, and ^cto plunder their spoil, 12 on ^aone day in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month (that is, the month Adar). 13 ^aA copy of that which was written down to be given as law in each and every province was revealed to all the peoples, so that the Jews would be ready for this day to avenge themselves on their enemies. 14 The couriers, hurried and hastened by the king’s word, went out, riding on the royal steeds; and the law was given out at the citadel in Susa.

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