8Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, "There is a certain people scattered and separated among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom. Their laws differ from those of every other people, and they do not obey the king’s laws. Therefore, it is not beneficial for the king to tolerate them.
9If it pleases the king, let a decree be written to destroy them, and I will weigh out ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those who carry out the work, to be deposited in the king’s treasuries."
10So the king removed his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman, the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews.
11The king said to Haman, "The silver is given to you, as well as the people, to do with them as it seems good to you."
12On the thirteenth day of the first month, the king’s scribes were summoned and an edict was written according to all that Haman commanded. It was addressed to the satraps of the king, to the governors of each province, and to the officials of every people, to each province in its script and to each people in its language. It was written in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed with the king’s signet ring.
13Letters were sent by couriers to all the king’s provinces, ordering the destruction, killing, and annihilation of all the Jews—young and old, children and women—in a single day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar, and to plunder their possessions.