⁸ You yourselves write a decree concerning the Jews, ^[a]as you please, in the king’s name, and seal it with the king’s signet ring; for whatever is written in the king’s name and sealed with the king’s signet ring ^(A)no one can revoke.”

^9 (B)So the king’s scribes were called at that time, in the third month, which is the month of Sivan, on the twenty-third day; and it was written, according to all that Mordecai commanded, to the Jews, the satraps, the governors, and the princes of the provinces ^(C)from India to Ethiopia, one hundred and twenty-seven provinces in all, to every province ^(D)in its own script, to every people in their own language, and to the Jews in their own script and language. ^10 (E)And he wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus, sealed it with the king’s signet ring, and sent letters by couriers on horseback, riding on royal horses ^[b]bred from swift steeds.

¹¹ By these letters the king permitted the Jews who were in every city to ^(F)gather together and protect their lives—to ^(G)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, ^12 (H)on one day in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of ^[c]Adar.