The Second Letters
9 Then the king’s scribes were called at that time, in the third month, which is the month Sivan, on the twenty-third day of the month; and it was written according to all that Mordecai commanded to the Jews, and to the local governors, and the governors and princes of the provinces which are from India to Ethiopia, one hundred twenty-seven provinces, to every province according to its writing, and to every people in their language, and to the Jews in their writing, and in their language. 10 He wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus, and sealed it with the king’s ring, and sent letters by courier on horseback, riding on royal horses that were bred from swift steeds. 11 In those letters, the king granted the Jews who were in every city to gather themselves together and to defend their lives—to destroy, to kill, and to cause to perish all the power of the people and province that would assault them, their little ones and women, and to plunder their possessions, 12 on one day in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar. 13 A copy of the letter, that the decree should be given out in every province, was published to all the peoples, that the Jews should be ready for that day to avenge themselves on their enemies. 14 So the couriers who rode on royal horses went out, hastened and pressed on by the king’s commandment. The decree was given out in the citadel of Susa. 15 Mordecai went out of the presence of the king in royal clothing of blue and white, and with a great crown of gold, and with a robe of fine linen and purple; and the city of Susa shouted and was glad. 16 The Jews had light, gladness, joy, and honor. 17 In every province and in every city, wherever the king’s commandment and his decree came, the Jews had gladness, joy, a feast and a holiday. Many from among the peoples of the land became Jews, for the fear of the Jews had fallen on them.
The rescue is written in the same machinery as the threat, clause for clause, and the city that was perplexed now shouts.
The second decree is described in almost exactly the words used of the first Esther 3:12–14 — scribes called, provinces and governors, every province in its own writing, every people in its own language, sealed with the king's ring, couriers on royal horses. The apparatus that carried death carries rescue, unchanged.
One detail is added this time: and to the Jews in their writing, and in their language. The people who were named only as a certain people in Haman's speech Esther 3:8 are now addressed directly, in their own script.
The content in verse 11 answers the first decree clause by clause, and the wording repays care. The Jews are granted to gather themselves together and to defend their lives — the purpose stated first — against the people and province that would assault them. What follows is the first decree's own vocabulary of destruction, now available to the intended victims and bounded by that opening clause.
Verse 15 is the visual reversal. Mordecai comes out in royal clothing of blue and white, and with a great crown of gold — wearing what Haman had designed for someone else to wear Esther 6:8 — and the city of Susa shouted and was glad.
Set that against the end of chapter 3, where the king and Haman sat down to drink; but the city of Susa was perplexed Esther 3:15. The same city, the same narrator, opposite verbs.
And verse 17 records something the book does not explain: many from among the peoples of the land became Jews. The stated reason is fear rather than conviction, and the book reports it without comment.
settled What this mark means