And it was so, when the king saw Esther the queen standing in the court, that she obtained favor in his sight: and the king held out to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand. So Esther drew near, and touched the top of the scepter.

Now in the twelfth month, that is, the month Adar, on the thirteenth day of the same, when the king's command and his decree drew near to be executed, in the day that the enemies of the Jews hoped to have power over them, (though it was turned to the contrary, that the Jews had rule over them that hated them;)

And Mordecai wrote these things, and sent letters unto all the Jews that were in all the provinces of king Ahasuerus, both near and far,