7King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, 'Behold, I have given Haman’s estate to Esther, and he has been hanged on the gallows because he attacked the Jews.'
8Now you may write in the king’s name concerning the Jews as you see fit and seal it with the king’s signet ring. For a document written in the king’s name and sealed with the king’s ring cannot be revoked.
9The king’s scribes were summoned on that day, the third month (the month of Sivan), on the twenty-third day, and an edict was written exactly as Mordecai commanded concerning the Jews, to the satraps, governors, and officials of the 127 provinces from India to Cush, each province in its own script and language, and to the Jews in their own script and language.
10Mordecai wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus, sealed it with the king’s signet ring, and sent the letters by mounted couriers riding fast horses bred from royal mares.
11The king’s decree gave the Jews in every city the right to assemble and defend themselves, to destroy, kill, and annihilate any armed force of any people or province that might attack them, including women and children, and to plunder their possessions.
12This was to take place on a single day in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar.
13A copy of the written decree was to be issued as law in every province, publicly proclaimed to all people, so that the Jews would be ready on that day to avenge themselves on their enemies.
14The couriers riding the royal horses raced out in haste, pressed on by the king's command. The decree was also issued in the citadel of Susa.