Esther 8:7-14

7So King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, “Behold, 1I have given the house of Haman to Esther, and him they have hanged on the gallows because he had stretched out his hands against the Jews. 8Now you write to the Jews 2as you see fit, in the king’s name, and 3seal 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 4may not be revoked.”

95So the king’s scribes were called at that time in the third month (that is, the month Sivan), on the twenty-third 6day; and it was written according to all that Mordecai commanded to the Jews, the satraps, the governors and the princes of the provinces which extended 7from India to 8Ethiopia, 127 provinces, to 9every 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 10horses, riding on steeds sired by the royal stud. 1111In them the king granted the Jews who were in each and every city the right 12to assemble and to defend their lives, 13to destroy, to kill and to annihilate the entire army of any people or province which might attack them, including children and women, and 14to plunder their spoil, 12on 15one day in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month (that is, the month Adar). 1316A copy of the edict to be 17issued as law in each and every province was published to all the peoples, so that the Jews would be ready for this day to avenge themselves on their enemies. 14The couriers, hastened and impelled by the king’s command, went out, riding on the royal steeds; and the decree was given out at the citadel in Susa.