Esther 8:2-10

2Then 1the 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.

3Then Esther spoke again 2to the king, fell at his feet, wept, and pleaded for his compassion to avert the evil scheme of Haman the Agagite and his plot which he had devised against the Jews. 4And 3the king extended the golden scepter to Esther. So Esther got up and stood before the king. 5Then she said, “4If it pleases the king and if I have found favor before him, and the matter seems proper to the king and I am pleasing in his sight, let it be written to revoke the 5letters devised by Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, which he wrote to eliminate the Jews who are in all the king’s provinces. 6For 6how can I endure to see the disaster which will happen to my people, and how can I endure to see the destruction of my kindred?” 7So King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, “Behold, 7I have given the house of Haman to Esther, and they have hanged him on the wooden gallows because he had reached out with his hand against the Jews. 8Now you write to the Jews 8as you see fit, in the king’s name, and 9seal it with the king’s signet ring; for a decree which is written in the name of the king and sealed with the king’s signet ring 10may not be revoked.”

911So the king’s scribes were summoned at that time in the third month (that is, the month Sivan), on the twenty-third 12day; and it was written in accordance with everything that Mordecai commanded the Jews, the satraps, the governors, and the officials of the provinces which extended 13from India to 14Cush, 127 provinces, to 15every province according to its script, and to every people according to their language, as well as to the Jews according to their script and their language. 10He wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus, and sealed it with the king’s signet ring, and sent letters by couriers on 16horses, riding on royal relay horses, offspring of racing mares.