^10 (A)And he wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus ^(B)and sealed it with the king's signet ring. Then he sent the letters by mounted couriers riding on ^(C)swift horses that were used in the king's service, bred from the royal stud,

¹¹ saying that the king allowed the Jews who were in every city ^(A)to gather and defend their lives, ^(B)to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate any armed force of any people or province that might attack them, children and women included, ^(C)and to plunder their goods,