Esther 8:8-12

New English Translation

⁸ Now write in the king’s name whatever in your opinion is appropriate concerning the Jews and seal it with the king’s signet ring. Any decree that is written in the king’s name and sealed with the king’s signet ring cannot be rescinded.”

⁹ The king’s scribes were quickly^[a] summoned—in the third month (that is, the month of Sivan), on the twenty-third day.^[b] They wrote out^[c] everything that Mordecai instructed to the Jews, and to the satraps, and the governors, and the officials of the provinces all the way from India to Ethiopia^[d]—127 provinces in all—to each province in its own script and to each people in their own language, and to the Jews according to their own script and their own language. ¹⁰ Mordecai^[e] wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed it with the king’s signet ring. He then sent letters by couriers, who rode royal horses that were very swift.

¹¹ The king thereby allowed the Jews who were in every city to assemble and to stand up for themselves—to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate any army of whatever people or province that should become their adversaries, including their women and children,^[f] and to confiscate their property. ¹² This was to take place on a certain day throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus—namely, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month (that is, the month of Adar).