¹⁰ The decree was written in the name of King Xerxes and sealed with the king’s signet ring. Mordecai sent the dispatches by swift messengers, who rode fast horses especially bred for the king’s service.

Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream about a Tree

4 ^[a]King Nebuchadnezzar sent this message to the people of every race and nation and language throughout the world:

Israel, an Unfaithful Wife

²⁰ They will bring the remnant of your people back from every nation. They will bring them to my holy mountain in Jerusalem as an offering to the Lord. They will ride on horses, in chariots and wagons, and on mules and camels,” says the Lord.

⁴ His command is backed by great power. No one can resist or question it.

¹² So on April 17^[a] the king’s secretaries were summoned, and a decree was written exactly as Haman dictated. It was sent to the king’s highest officers, the governors of the respective provinces, and the nobles of each province in their own scripts and languages. The decree was written in the name of King Xerxes and sealed with the king’s signet ring. ¹³ Dispatches were sent by swift messengers into all the provinces of the empire, giving the order that all Jews—young and old, including women and children—must be killed, slaughtered, and annihilated on a single day. This was scheduled to happen on March 7 of the next year.^[b] The property of the Jews would be given to those who killed them.

⁶ At the king’s command, runners were sent throughout Israel and Judah. They carried letters that said: