Esther 8 And on that same day the king made a present to Esther of all that belonged to Haman the accuser. And the king sent for Mordecai; for Esther told him that he was her kinsman;

Thomson⁽ⁱ⁾ ¹ And on that same day the king made a present to Esther of all that belonged to Haman the accuser. And the king sent for Mordecai; [for Esther told him that he was her kinsman;] ² and the king took the ring which he had taken back from Haman and gave it to Mordecai, and Esther set him over all that belonged to Haman. ³ Then she spoke to the king again and fell at his feet and besought him to avert the mischief of Haman, and what he had devised against the Jews. ⁴ And when the king stretched forth the golden sceptre to Esther, she arose and stood near the king ⁵ and said, If it seemeth good to thee, and I have found favour, let despatches be sent to reverse the letters sent by Haman, which were written to destroy the Jews who are in thy kingdom. ⁶ For how can I see the calamity of my people? or how can I survive the destruction of my kindred? ⁷ Thereupon the king said to Esther, If I have given thee all the substance of Haman; and to gratify thee have caused him to be hanged on a gallows, because he laid his hands on the Jews, what more dost thou desire? ⁸ Write ye yourselves what you please in my name, and seal it with my ring. For what is written by the king's order, and sealed with my ring cannot be reversed. ⁹ So the secretaries were convened in the first month which is Nisan, on the three and twentieth day thereof in the same year, and a letter was written to the Jews reciting all that had been given in charge to the lieutenants and to the chief governors of the provinces from India to Ethiopia, a hundred and twenty seven provinces, to every province as they could read it, ¹⁰ then it was written by the king's command and sealed with his ring, [and these letters were sent by posts] ¹¹ that he ordered them to use their own laws in every city, and to assist each other, and to use their adversaries, and them who assaulted them as they pleased, ¹² on a certain day, the thirteenth of the twelfth month Adar, throughout the whole kingdom of ¹³ Artaxerxes; that these subsequent writings were to counterbalance the former letter; and that these counterbalancing writings should be exposed to publick view throughout the whole kingdom, that the Jews might be ready against that day to combat their adversaries. ¹⁴ So the horsemen set out in all haste to execute the king's orders. And when the decree was published at Susoi, ¹⁵ Mordecai went forth, arrayed in a royal robe, wearing a crown of gold and a turban of purple cotton. And upon seeing him the inhabitants of Susoi rejoiced. ¹⁶ And among the Jews, there was light and joy in every city and province where the decree was published. ¹⁷ Wherever proclamation was made, there was joy and gladness among the Jews, feasting and mirth; so that many of the nations were circumcised and became Jews, for fear of the Jews.