So the king's recorders were called in the first month, on the thirteenth [day], and they wrote as Haman commanded to the captains and governors in every province, from India even to Ethiopia, to a hundred and twenty-seven provinces, and to the rulers of the nations according to their [many] languages, in the name of King Artaxerxes.

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 Moses said to the people, Remember this day in which you came forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, for with a strong hand the Lord brought you out from this [place.] No leavened bread shall be eaten.

And it shall come to pass when the Lord your God shall have brought you into the land of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Hivites and the Jebusites and the Girgashites and the Perizzites, which He swore to your fathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, that you shall perform this service in this month.

Seven days shall you eat unleavened bread; nothing leavened shall be seen with you, neither shall you have leaven in all your borders.

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His praises;

And in that day you shall say, I [will] bless You, O Lord; for You were angry with me, but You have turned aside Your wrath, and have pitied me.

Behold, my God is my Savior; I will trust in Him, and not be afraid; for the Lord is my glory and my praise, and has become my salvation.

And it shall come to pass in that day, [that] the Lord shall give you rest from your sorrow and vexation, [and from] your hard servitude in which you served them.

You have turned my mourning into joy for me; You have removed my sackcloth, and have clothed me with gladness;

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Most assuredly I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; and you will be grieved, but your grief will be turned into joy.

Therefore you also now have sorrow; but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you.

Because of this the Jews dispersed in every foreign land to keep the fourteenth of Adar [as] a holy day with joy, sending portions each to his neighbor.

And [the governor] said to them, Go, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions to them that have nothing; for this day is holy to our Lord: and faint not, for the Lord is our strength.

So all the people departed to eat and drink, to send portions and rejoice greatly, for they understood the words which he made known to them.

Nevertheless give what is inside as alms; and see, all things are clean to you.

Now all who believed were together, and they had all things in common,

So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were sharing food with joy and simplicity of heart,

only they desired that we should remember the poor, which indeed I made every effort to do this very thing.