Esther 8:9-11

Lexham English Bible

⁹ And the secretaries of the king were summoned^[a] at that time, in the third month, which is in the month of Sivan on the twenty-third day, and an edict was written according to all that Mordecai commanded, to the Jews and to the governors and satraps and officials of the provinces from India to Cush^[b]—one hundred and twenty-seven provinces^[c]—each province according to its own script and to every people in their own language,^[d] and to the Jews in their own script and language. ¹⁰ And he wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus, and he sealed the letters with the king’s signet ring and sent them^[e] by couriers on horses, riding on royal horses bred by^[f] racing mares.^{[g] 11} In them the king allowed the Jews who were in every city to assemble and defend their lives,^[h] to destroy and kill and annihilate any army of any people or province attacking them, including women and children, and to plunder their spoil,