Esther · 17 verses

Esther 8

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The chapter

What happens here

Atlas's own reading, written from this chapter and nothing else, and published only once a person has approved it. Each scene names the verses it covers; the names inside it link to the people and places they name.

The king’s unrevocable decree is answered with another decree: the Jews may now assemble, defend themselves, and destroy those who come against them. Royal law, having made a dreadful muddle, is made to answer itself in duplicate.

A new order for an old dangervv. 1–8

On the very day Esther received Haman’s estate, Mordecai received Haman’s ring, and Esther placed him over the estate. Yet the furniture of victory did not settle the matter: Esther returned weeping to the king’s feet and asked that Haman’s letters be revoked. The king explained that a sealed decree could not be revoked, which is a remarkably immovable sort of pen. So he gave Esther and Mordecai permission to write another decree in his name, sealed with the royal ring, allowing the Jews to answer the first order with force.

The decree rides outvv. 9–17

The scribes recorded Mordecai’s orders for 127 provinces, changing script and language as the message crossed the empire. The documents travelled by mounted couriers on swift horses bred from the royal mares, a splendidly precise detail for a crisis of this size. The appointed day was the thirteenth of Adar, when the Jews might destroy hostile forces and plunder their possessions. The edict reached Susa and every province; Mordecai emerged in royal finery, Susa shouted, and the Jews feasted in light, gladness, joy, and honour. Many people of the land became Jews because fear of the Jews had fallen upon them, arriving beside the celebrations like a rather serious guest.

The text

Read it

Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.

Esth 8:1That same day King Xerxes awarded Queen Esther the estate of Haman, the enemy of the Jews. And Mordecai entered the king’s presence because Esther had revealed his relation to her.
Esth 8:2The king removed the signet ring he had recovered from Haman and presented it to Mordecai. And Esther appointed Mordecai over the estate of Haman.
Esth 8:3And once again, Esther addressed the king. She fell at his feet weeping and begged him to revoke the evil scheme of Haman the Agagite, which he had devised against the Jews.
Esth 8:4The king extended the gold scepter toward Esther, and she arose and stood before the king.
Esth 8:5“If it pleases the king,” she said, “and if I have found favor in his sight, and the matter seems proper to the king, and I am pleasing in his sight, may an order be written to revoke the letters that the scheming Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, wrote to destroy the Jews in all the king’s provinces.
Esth 8:6For how could I bear to see the disaster that would befall my people? How could I bear to see the destruction of my kindred?”
Esth 8:7So King Xerxes said to Esther the Queen and Mordecai the Jew, “Behold, I have given Haman’s estate to Esther, and he was hanged on the gallows because he attacked the Jews.
Esth 8:8Now you may write in the king’s name as you please regarding the Jews, and seal it with the royal signet ring. For a decree that is written in the name of the king and sealed with the royal signet ring cannot be revoked.”
Esth 8:9At once the royal scribes were summoned, and on the twenty-third day of the third month (the month of Sivan), they recorded all of Mordecai’s orders to the Jews and to the satraps, governors, and princes of the 127 provinces from India to Cush—writing to each province in its own script, to every people in their own language, and to the Jews in their own script and language.
Esth 8:10Mordecai wrote in the name of King Xerxes and sealed it with the royal signet ring. He sent the documents by mounted couriers riding on swift horses bred from the royal mares.
Esth 8:11By these letters the king permitted the Jews in each and every city the right to assemble and defend themselves, to destroy, kill, and annihilate all the forces of any people or province hostile to them, including women and children, and to plunder their possessions.
Esth 8:12The single day appointed throughout all the provinces of King Xerxes was the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar.
Esth 8:13A copy of the text of the edict was to be issued in every province and published to all the people, so that the Jews would be ready on that day to avenge themselves on their enemies.
Esth 8:14The couriers rode out in haste on their royal horses, pressed on by the command of the king. And the edict was also issued in the citadel of Susa.
Esth 8:15 Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal garments of blue and white, with a large gold crown and a purple robe of fine linen. And the city of Susa shouted and rejoiced.
Esth 8:16For the Jews it was a time of light and gladness, of joy and honor.
Esth 8:17In every province and every city, wherever the king’s edict and decree reached, there was joy and gladness among the Jews, with feasting and celebrating. And many of the people of the land themselves became Jews, because the fear of the Jews had fallen upon them.

01 — Also here

Who else the chapter reaches

Names written in the English are linked in the text above. These are the ones that are not: an entity the Hebrew or Greek names under a spelling the translation does not use, or one reached only by an assertion about a verse of this chapter.

Named in the Hebrew or Greek somewhere in this chapter, under a form the English renders differently — the registry's Ludim against the translation's Ludites — so there is no word in the sentence to hang the link on.

Reached by an assertion Atlas extracted from a verse of this chapter rather than by a name written in it — a pronoun, a title, or a participant the sentence carries without naming. This layer is model-read and measured at 88.6–90.3% precision, and it is kept separate from the names above for that reason.

02 — Read alongside

Where this is echoed

Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 137 passages were voted onto 17 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.

8 Esther 1:19So if it pleases the king, let him issue a royal decree, and let it be recorded in the laws of Persia and Media so that it cannot be repealed, that Vashti shall never again enter the presence of King Xerxes, and that her royal position shall be given to a woman better than she.
9 Esther 1:22He sent letters to all the provinces of the kingdom, to each province in its own script and to each people in their own language, proclaiming that every man should be master of his own household.
4 Esther 5:2As soon as the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court, she found favor in his sight. The king extended the gold scepter in his hand toward Esther, and she approached and touched the tip of the scepter.
8 Esther 3:12On the thirteenth day of the first month, the royal scribes were summoned and the order was written exactly as Haman commanded the royal satraps, the governors of each province, and the officials of each people, in the script of each province and the language of every people. It was written in the name of King Xerxes and sealed with the royal signet ring.
11 Esther 3:13And the letters were sent by couriers to each of the royal provinces with the order to destroy, kill, and annihilate all the Jews—young and old, women and children—and to plunder their possessions on a single day, the thirteenth day of Adar, the twelfth month.
11 Psalms 37:14–15The wicked have drawn the sword and bent the bow to bring down the poor and needy, to slay those whose ways are upright.
16 Proverbs 11:10When the righteous thrive, the city rejoices, and when the wicked perish, there are shouts of joy.
16 Psalms 97:11Light shines on the righteous, gladness on the upright in heart.
4 Esther 4:11“All the royal officials and the people of the king’s provinces know that one law applies to every man or woman who approaches the king in the inner court without being summoned—that he be put to death. Only if the king extends the gold scepter may that person live. But I have not been summoned to appear before the king for the past thirty days.”
9 Esther 1:1This is what happened in the days of Xerxes, who reigned over 127 provinces from India to Cush.
15 Luke 16:19Now there was a rich man dressed in purple and fine linen, who lived each day in joyous splendor.
16 Psalms 18:28For You, O LORD, light my lamp; my God lights up my darkness.
1 Esther 2:7And Mordecai had brought up Hadassah (that is, Esther), the daughter of his uncle, because she did not have a father or mother. The young woman was lovely in form and appearance, and when her father and mother had died, Mordecai had taken her as his own daughter.
2 Esther 3:10So the king removed the signet ring from his finger and gave it to Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews.
11 Ezekiel 39:10They will not gather wood from the countryside or cut it from the forests, for they will use the weapons for fuel. They will loot those who looted them and plunder those who plundered them, declares the Lord GOD.
11 Psalms 146:6–9the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them. He remains faithful forever.

Onward

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