Esther 8:9-11

New Catholic Bible

⁹ Then on the twenty-third day of the third month, Sivan, the king’s scribes were summoned. They wrote out all Mordecai’s words to the Jews and to the satraps, governors, and nobles of the one hundred and twenty-seven provinces stretching from India to Ethiopia. These words were written in the script of each province and the language of each people and also in the script and language of the Jews. ¹⁰ Mordecai wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus, sealed the letters with the king’s signet ring, and sent them via mounted couriers, riding speedy royal horses. ¹¹ The king’s edict gave the Jews in every city the right to assemble and protect themselves as well as to destroy, kill, and annihilate, along with their wives and children, every armed group of any nation and province that should attack them, and to seize their goods as spoil.