9 If you approve, have the orders for their destruction be written. For this I will pay 750,000 pounds of silver to your treasurers to be put in your treasury.”
10 At that, the king removed his signet ring and gave it to Haman, the enemy of the Jews. (Haman was the son of Hammedatha and was from Agag.)
11 The king told Haman, “You can keep your silver and do with the people whatever you like.”
12 On the thirteenth day of the first month the king’s scribes were summoned. All Haman’s orders were written to the king’s satraps, the governors of every province, and the officials of every people. They wrote to each province in its own script and to the people in each province in their own language. The orders were signed in the name of King Xerxes and sealed with the king’s ring.
13 Messengers were sent with official documents to all the king’s provinces. ⌊The people were ordered⌋ to wipe out, kill, and destroy all the Jews—young and old, women and children—on a single day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar. Their possessions were also to be seized.
14 A copy of the document was made public in a decree to every province. All the people were to be ready for this day.
15 The messengers hurried out as the king told them. The decree was also issued at the fortress of Susa. So the king and Haman sat down to drink a toast, but the city of Susa was in turmoil.