³ and said to the king, ^(A)“May the king live forever! Why should my face not be sad, when ^(B)the city, the place of my fathers’ tombs, lies waste, and its gates are burned with ^(C)fire?”

⁴ For we have been ^(A)sold, my people and I, to be destroyed, to be killed, and to be annihilated. Had we been sold as ^(B)male and female slaves, I would have held my tongue, although the enemy could never compensate for the king’s loss.”

The Jews Destroy Their Tormentors

9 Now ^(A)in the twelfth month, that is, the month of Adar, on the thirteenth day, ^(B)the time came for the king’s command and his decree to be executed. On the day that the enemies of the Jews had hoped to overpower them, the opposite occurred, in that the Jews themselves ^(C)overpowered those who hated them.