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 (A)A copy of the document was to be issued as a decree in every province and published for all people, so that the Jews would be ready on that day to avenge themselves on their enemies.