Esther 8:9-11

Modern English Version

⁹ The king’s scribes were summoned at that time, in the third month, which is the month of Sivan, on the twenty-third day; and everything was written, according to all that Mordecai commanded, to the Jews, to the satraps, the governors, and the princes of the provinces from India to Ethiopia, one hundred and twenty-seven provinces, to every province in its own script, to every people in their own language, and to the Jews in their script and language. ¹⁰ He wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus, sealed it with the king’s signet ring, sent letters by couriers on horseback, riding steeds bred from mares from the royal stables.

¹¹ What the king granted to the Jews in each and every city was the right to assemble and to defend their lives by annihilating, slaying, and destroying any army of any people or any province that would assault them, the little children and women included, and to plunder their possessions.