Esther 3:9–15

⁹If it pleases the king, let a decree be issued to destroy them, and I will give ten thousand talents^b of silver to the king’s administrators for the royal treasury.”^k

¹⁰So the king took his signet ring^l from his finger and gave it to Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews. ¹¹“Keep the money,” the king said to Haman, “and do with the people as you please.”

¹²Then on the thirteenth day of the first month the royal secretaries were summoned. They wrote out in the script of each province and in the language^m of each people all Haman’s orders to the king’s satraps, the governors of the various provinces and the nobles of the various peoples. These were written in the name of King Xerxes himself and sealedⁿ with his own ring. ¹³Dispatches were sent by couriers to all the king’s provinces with the order to destroy, kill and annihilate all the Jews^o—young and old, women and children—on a single day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar,^p and to plunder^q their goods. ¹⁴A copy of the text of the edict was to be issued as law in every province and made known to the people of every nationality so they would be ready for that day.^r

¹⁵The couriers went out, spurred on by the king’s command, and the edict was issued in the citadel of Susa.^s The king and Haman sat down to drink,^t but the city of Susa was bewildered.^u