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.

For both I and my people have been sold for destruction, and pillage, and slavery; [both] we and our children as bondmen and bondwomen. And I consented not to it, for the slanderer [is] not worthy of the king's palace.

In it he charged them to use their [own] laws in every city, and to help each other, and to treat their adversaries, and those who attacked them, as they pleased,

And I will destroy out of the cities of Judah, and the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of them that make merry, and the voice of them that rejoice, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride; for the whole land shall become a desolation.

For thus says the Lord God of Israel: Behold, I [will] make the voice of joy to cease out of this place before your eyes, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride.

Thus says the Lord: There shall yet be heard in this place, of which you say, it is destitute of men and cattle, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, [the places] that have been made desolate for lack of men and cattle,

the voice of gladness, and the voice of joy, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the voice of men saying, Give thanks to the Lord Almighty; for the Lord is good; for His mercy [endures] forever. And they shall bring gifts into the house of the Lord, for I will turn all the captivity of that land as before, said the Lord.

The wine shall mourn, the vine shall mourn, all the merry-hearted shall sigh.

They are ashamed, they have not drunk wine; strong drink has become bitter to them that drink [it].

There is a howling for the wine everywhere; all the mirth of the land has ceased, all the mirth of the land has departed.

And he shall destroy the multitude of your musicians, and the sound of your psalteries shall be heard no more.

And I will take away all her gladness, her feasts, and her festivals at the new moon, and her Sabbaths, and all her solemn assemblies.

The sound of harpists, and musicians, and of flutists, and of trumpeters shall by no means be heard in you anymore. And no craftsman of any craft shall by no means be found in you anymore, and the sound of a mill shall by no means be heard in you anymore.

And the light of a lamp shall by no means shine in you anymore, and the voice of bridegroom and of a bride shall by no means be heard in you anymore. Your merchants were the magnates of the earth, for by your sorcery all the nations were deceived.

While the sun and light are not darkened, nor the moon and the stars; nor the clouds return after the rain;

and they shall shut the doors in the marketplace, because of the weakness of the voice of her that grinds [at the mill]; and he shall rise up at the voice of the sparrow, and all the daughters of song shall be brought low;