¹² Then 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^(A) 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 sealed^(B) with his own ring. ¹³ Dispatches were sent by couriers to all the king’s provinces with the order to destroy, kill and annihilate all the Jews^(C)—young and old, women and children—on a single day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar,^(D) and to plunder^(E) their goods. ¹⁴ A 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.^(F)

⁴² Then Pharaoh took his signet ring^(A) from his finger and put it on Joseph’s finger. He dressed him in robes^(B) of fine linen^(C) and put a gold chain around his neck.^(D)

¹⁹ “Therefore, if it pleases the king,^(A) let him issue a royal decree and let it be written in the laws of Persia and Media, which cannot be repealed,^(B) that Vashti is never again to enter the presence of King Xerxes. Also let the king give her royal position to someone else who is better than she.

¹⁵ Then the men went as a group to King Darius and said to him, “Remember, Your Majesty, that according to the law of the Medes and Persians no decree or edict that the king issues can be changed.”^(A)