Ester 3:12-15

3:12 So the royal scribes ¹  were summoned in the first month, on the thirteenth day of the month. Everything Haman commanded was written to the king’s satraps ²  and governors who were in every province and to the officials of every people, province by province according to its script and people by people according to its language. In the name of King Ahasuerus it was written and sealed with the king’s signet ring. 3:13 Letters were sent by the runners to all the king’s provinces stating that ³  they should destroy, kill, and annihilate all the Jews, from youth to elderly, both women and children, ⁴  on a particular day, namely the thirteenth day ⁵  of the twelfth month (that is, the month of Adar), and to loot and plunder their possessions. 3:14 A copy of this edict was to be presented as law throughout every province; it was to be made known to all the inhabitants, ⁶  so that they would be prepared for this day. 3:15 The messengers ⁷  scurried forth ⁸  with the king’s order. ⁹  The edict was issued in Susa the citadel. While the king and Haman sat down to drink, the city of Susa was in an uproar! ¹⁰ 

Ester 8:8-10

8:8 Now you write in the king’s name whatever in your opinion is appropriate concerning the Jews and seal it with the king’s signet ring. Any decree that is written in the king’s name and sealed with the king’s signet ring cannot be rescinded.

8:9 The king’s scribes were quickly ¹¹  summoned – in the third month (that is, the month of Sivan), on the twenty-third day. ¹²  They wrote out ¹³  everything that Mordecai instructed to the Jews and to the satraps and the governors and the officials of the provinces all the way from India to Ethiopia ¹⁴  – a hundred and twenty-seven provinces in all – to each province in its own script and to each people in their own language, and to the Jews according to their own script and their own language. 8:10 Mordecai ¹⁵  wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed it with the king’s signet ring. He then sent letters by couriers on horses, who rode royal horses that were very swift.

Ester 9:20-21

9:20 Mordecai wrote these matters down and sent letters to all the Jews who were throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far, 9:21 to have them observe the fourteenth and the fifteenth day of the month of Adar each year

[3:12]  ¹ tn Or “secretaries” (so NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[3:12]  ² tn Or “princes” (so NLT); CEV “highest officials.”

[3:13]  ³ tn The words “stating that” are not in the Hebrew text but have been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[3:13]  ⁴ tn Heb “children and women.” The translation follows contemporary English idiom, which reverses the order.

[3:13]  ⁵ tc The LXX does not include the words “on the thirteenth day.”

[3:14]  ⁶ tn Heb “peoples” (so NASB, NRSV).

[3:15]  ⁷ tn Heb “runners.” So also in 8:10, 14. Cf. NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV “couriers.”

[3:15]  ⁸ tn Or “went forth in haste” (so ASV).

[3:15]  ⁹ tn Heb “with the word of the king.”

[3:15]  ¹⁰ sn The city of Susa was in an uproar. This final statement of v. 15 is a sad commentary on the pathetic disregard of despots for the human misery and suffering that they sometimes inflict on those who are helpless to resist their power. Here, while common people braced for the reckless loss of life and property that was about to begin, the perpetrators went about their mundane activities as though nothing of importance was happening.

[8:9]  ¹¹ tn Heb “in that time”; NIV “At once.”

[8:9]  ¹² sn Cf. 3:12. Two months and ten days have passed since Haman’s edict to wipe out the Jews.

[8:9]  ¹³ tn Heb “it was written”; this passive construction has been converted to an active one in the translation for clarity and for stylistic reasons.

[8:9]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Cush” (so NIV), referring to the region of the upper Nile in Africa. Cf. KJV and most other English versions “Ethiopia.”

[8:10]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “He”; the referent (Mordecai) has been specified in the translation for clarity.