13 And letters were sent by messengers into all the provinces of the king, to kill, and to destroy, and to destroy all the Jews, young and old, children and women, in one day, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, that is, the month of Adar, and to plunder their goods. [This is a copy of this letter: The great king Artaxerxes commanded from India to Ethiopia over the one hundred and twenty-seven provinces, and the governors subject to them. restore the peace desired by all people.

And so, when we know that this people alone always resists every man, leads a way of life that is foreign to the laws, and in opposition to our actions, commits the greatest evils, so that our kingdom may not prosper, we have commanded Haman, who is appointed in the letters, and our second father, with his wives and children, to be utterly destroyed by the swords of the enemy, without any pity or mercy; on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month of Adar of the present year, so that these hostile people, both before and now, having been forcibly cast down into hell in one day, do not hinder us from living peacefully and serenely to the end in the time to come.]

14 A copy of the decree shall be given to every province as a law to be declared to all nations, that they may be ready for that day.

15 The messengers departed quickly with the king's command. A decree was also pronounced in Shusa, the throne city; and the king and Haman sat and drank, and the city of Susa was in confusion.

4

1 And when Mordecai knew all that was done, he tore his garments, and put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the midst of the city, and cried out with a great and bitter cry, saying, An innocent people is being destroyed.

2 And he came to the royal gate, because it was forbidden to enter the royal gate with sackcloth [and ashes].

3 Likewise, in every province and place, whither the king's command and his decree reached, there was great lamentation among the Jews, and fasting, and mourning, and wailing; sackcloth and ashes served as a bed for many.

4 And Esther's maidservants and her eunuchs came and told her, and the queen was greatly troubled. And she sent garments for Mordecai to put them on, and to take off his sackcloth. But he did not accept it.

5 Then Esther called Hatha, one of the king's eunuchs, whom he had assigned to her, and sent him to Mordecai, to inquire what is this, and why is it?

6 And Gathach went to Mordecai, in the city square, which is before the king's gate.

7 And Mordecai told him all that had happened to him, and of a certain amount of silver, which Haman had promised to weigh into the king's treasury for the sake of Judah, to destroy them.

8 And he gave him a copy of the decree promulgated in Shushan concerning their destruction, to show Esther, and to let her know of all things. And he commanded her to go to the king, and beg him for mercy, and to ask him for mercy on behalf of her people, [remembering the days of her humility, when she was brought up under my hand, because Haman, the second in king, condemned us to death, and that she should call upon the Lord, and tell the king about us, that he may deliver us from death].

9 And Gathach came and told Esther what Mordecai had said.