And she wrote a letter in the name of Ahab, and sealed it with his seal, and sent the letter to the elders, and to the freemen who dwelt with Naboth.

even as a king having power; and who will say to him, What are you doing?

King Nebuchadnezzar, to all nations, tribes, and tongues that dwell in all the earth: Peace be multiplied to you.

And [the message] was sent by posts throughout the kingdom of Artaxerxes, to utterly destroy the race of the Jews on the first day of the twelfth month, which is Adar, and to plunder their goods. And the following is the copy of the letter: The great King Artaxerxes writes thus to the rulers and inferior governors of a hundred and twenty-seven provinces, from India even to Ethiopia, who hold authority under [him]. Ruling over many nations, and having obtained dominion over the whole world, I was minded, (not elated by the confidence of power but ever conducting [myself] with great moderation and with gentleness) to make the lives of [my] subjects continually tranquil, desiring both to maintain the kingdom quite and orderly to [its] utmost limits, and to restore the peace desired by all men. But when I had inquired of my counselors how this should be brought to pass, Haman, who excels in sound judgment among us, and has been manifestly well inclined without wavering and with unshaken fidelity, and has obtained the second post in the kingdom, informed us that a certain ill-disposed people is mixed up with all the tribes throughout the world, opposed in their laws to every [other] nation, and continually neglecting the commands of the kings, so that the united government blamelessly administered by us is not quietly established. Having then conceived that this nation alone [of all others] is continually set in opposition to every man, introducing as a change a foreign code of laws, and injuriously plotting to accomplish the worst of evils against our interests, and against the happy establishment of the monarchy; we have accordingly appointed those who are signified to you in the letters written by Haman, who is set over [the public] affairs and is our second governor, to utterly destroy them all with their wives and children by the swords of the enemies, without pitying or sparing any, on the fourteenth day of the twelfth month (which is Adar) of the present year; that the people aforetime and now ill-disposed [to us] having been violently consigned to death in one day, may hereafter secure to us continually a well- constituted and quiet [state of] affairs.

And the posts went with the letters from the king and the princes to all Israel and Judah, according to the command of the king, saying, Children of Israel, return to the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, and bring back them that have escaped, [even] those that were left of the hand of the king of Assyria.

But my life is swifter than a post: [my days] have fled away, and they knew it not.

And by you I will scatter the horse and his rider; and by you I will scatter chariots and them that ride in them.

and the camels of Midian and Ephah shall cover you; all from Saba shall come bearing gold, and shall bring frankincense, and they shall proclaim the salvation of the Lord.

And they shall bring your brethren out of all nations for a gift to the Lord with horses, and chariots, in litters [drawn by] mules with awnings, to the holy city Jerusalem, said the Lord, as though the children of Israel should bring their sacrifices to Me with psalms into the house of the Lord.

How will you say, I am not polluted, and have not gone after Baal? Behold your ways in the burial ground, and know what you have done: her voice has howled in the evening;