So the posts went with the letters from the king and his princes throughout all Israel and Judah, and according to the commandment of the king, saying, Ye children of Israel, turn again unto the LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, and he will return to the remnant of you, that are escaped out of the hand of the kings of Assyria. {from: Heb. from the hand}

The ten sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews, slew they; but on the spoil laid they not their hand.

Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.

And he wrote in the king Ahasuerus' name, and sealed {it} with the king's ring, and sent letters by posts on horseback, {and} riders on mules, camels, {and} young dromedaries:

For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment. {rejoiceth: or, glorieth}

Now my days are swifter than a post: they flee away, they see no good.

And Nob, the city of the priests, smote he with the edge of the sword, both men and women, children and sucklings, and oxen, and asses, and sheep, with the edge of the sword.

One post shall run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to shew the king of Babylon that his city is taken at {one} end,

I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. {tread...: Heb. lay them a treading}

Their feet {are} swift to shed blood:

For we are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish. But if we had been sold for bondmen and bondwomen, I had held my tongue, although the enemy could not countervail the king's damage. {to be destroyed...: Heb. that they should destroy, and kill, and cause to perish}

Wherein the king granted the Jews which {were} in every city to gather themselves together, and to stand for their life, to destroy, to slay, and to cause to perish, all the power of the people and province that would assault them, {both} little ones and women, and {to take} the spoil of them for a prey,

Now in the twelfth month, that {is}, the month Adar, on the thirteenth day of the same, when the king's commandment and his decree drew near to be put in execution, in the day that the enemies of the Jews hoped to have power over them, (though it was turned to the contrary, that the Jews had rule over them that hated them;)

For we are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish. But if we had been sold for bondmen and bondwomen, I had held my tongue, although the enemy could not countervail the king's damage. {to be destroyed...: Heb. that they should destroy, and kill, and cause to perish}

Upon one day in all the provinces of king Ahasuerus, {namely}, upon the thirteenth {day} of the twelfth month, which {is} the month Adar.

The young and the old lie on the ground in the streets: my virgins and my young men are fallen by the sword; thou hast slain {them} in the day of thine anger; thou hast killed, {and} not pitied.

So the posts passed from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh even unto Zebulun: but they laughed them to scorn, and mocked them.

And when he had apprehended him, he put {him} in prison, and delivered {him} to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people. {Easter: Gr. Passover} {quaternions: a file of four soldiers}

And this house was finished on the third day of the month Adar, which was in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king.

Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the candle. {I will...: Heb. I will cause to perish from them}

One post shall run to meet another, and one messenger to meet another, to shew the king of Babylon that his city is taken at {one} end,