¹¹ By these letters the king permitted the Jews who were in every city to ^(A)gather together and protect their lives—to ^(B)destroy, kill, and annihilate all the forces of any people or province that would assault them, both little children and women, and to plunder their possessions,

¹³ And the letters were ^(A)sent by couriers into all the king’s provinces, to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate all the Jews, both young and old, little children and women, ^(B)in one day, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar, and ^(C)to plunder their ^[a]possessions.

¹⁰ They will not take wood from the field nor cut down any from the forests, because they will make fires with the weapons; ^(A)and they will plunder those who plundered them, and pillage those who pillaged them,” says the Lord God.

² The Jews ^(A)gathered together in their cities throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus to lay hands on those who ^(B)sought their harm. And no one could withstand them, ^(C)because fear of them fell upon all people. ³ And all the officials of the provinces, the satraps, the governors, and all those doing the king’s work, helped the Jews, because the fear of Mordecai fell upon them. ⁴ For Mordecai was great in the king’s palace, and his fame spread throughout all the provinces; for this man Mordecai ^(D)became increasingly prominent. ⁵ Thus the Jews defeated all their enemies with the stroke of the sword, with slaughter and destruction, and did what they pleased with those who hated them.

⁶ And in ^(E)Shushan^[a] the ^[b]citadel the Jews killed and destroyed five hundred men. ⁷ Also Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha, ⁸ Poratha, Adalia, Aridatha, ⁹ Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai, and Vajezatha— ^10 (F)the ten sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews—they killed; ^(G)but they did not lay a hand on the ^[c]plunder.

¹¹ On that day the number of those who were killed in ^[d]Shushan the ^[e]citadel ^[f]was brought to the king. ¹² And the king said to Queen Esther, “The Jews have killed and destroyed five hundred men in Shushan the citadel, and the ten sons of Haman. What have they done in the rest of the king’s provinces? Now ^(H)what is your petition? It shall be granted to you. Or what is your further request? It shall be done.”

¹³ Then Esther said, “If it pleases the king, let it be granted to the Jews who are in Shushan to do again tomorrow ^(I)according to today’s decree, and let Haman’s ten sons ^(J)be hanged on the gallows.”

¹⁴ So the king commanded this to be done; the decree was issued in Shushan, and they hanged Haman’s ten sons.

¹⁵ And the Jews who were in ^[g]Shushan ^(K)gathered together again on the fourteenth day of the month of Adar and killed three hundred men at Shushan; ^(L)but they did not lay a hand on the plunder.

¹⁶ The remainder of the Jews in the king’s provinces ^(M)gathered together and protected their lives, had rest from their enemies, and killed seventy-five thousand of their enemies; ^(N)but they did not lay a hand on the plunder.