4
Then the king held out the golden scepter towards Esther. So Esther arose, and stood before the king,
5
And said, If it shall please the king, and if I have found favor in his sight, and the thing [shall seem] right before the king, and I [am] pleasing in his eyes, let it be written to reverse the letters devised by Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, which he wrote to destroy the Jews who [are] in all the king's provinces:
6
For how can I endure to see the evil that will come to my people? or how can I endure to see the destruction of my kindred?
7
Then the king Ahasuerus said to Esther the queen and to Mordecai the Jew, Behold, I have given Esther the house of Haman, and him they have hanged upon the gallows, because he laid his hand upon the Jews.
8
Write ye also for the Jews, as it pleaseth you, in the king's name, and seal [it] with the king's ring: for the writing which is written in the king's name, and sealed with the king's ring, no man may reverse.
9
Then were the king's scribes called at that time in the third month, that [is], the month Sivan, on the three and twentieth [day] of it; and it was written, according to all that Mordecai commanded, to the Jews, and to the lieutenants, and the deputies and rulers of the provinces which [are] from India to Cush, a hundred twenty and seven provinces, to every province according to the writing of it, and to every people after their language, and to the Jews according to their writing, and according to their language.
10
And he wrote in the king Ahasuerus's name, and sealed [it] with the king's ring, and sent letters by posts on horseback, [and] riders on mules, camels, [and] young dromedaries:
11
In which the king granted the Jews who [were] in every city to assemble, and to stand for their life, to destroy, to slay, and to cause to perish, all the power of the people and province that would assault them, [both] little ones and women, and [to take] the spoil of them for a prey,
12
Upon one day in all the provinces of king Ahasuerus, [namely], upon the thirteenth [day] of the twelfth month, which [is] the month Adar,
13
The copy of the writing for a commandment, to be given in every province [was] published to all people, and that the Jews should be ready against that day to avenge themselves on their enemies.
14
[So] the posts that rode upon mules [and] camels went out, being hastened and pressed on by the king's commandment. And the decree was given at Shushan the palace.