Esther 3:13

And the message was sent by posts throughout the kingdom of Artaxerxes, to destroy utterly the race of the Jews on the first day of the twelfth month, which is Adar, and to plunder their goods. + 3:13 Note. - The part in brackets is not in Heb. [And the following is the copy of the letter; The great king Artaxerxes writes thus to the rulers and inferior governors of one 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 gentleness) to make the lives of my subjects continually tranquil, desiring both to maintain the kingdom quiet and orderly to its utmost limits, and to restore the peace desired by all men. But when I had enquired of my counselors how this should be brought to pass. Aman, who excels in soundness of judgment among us, and has been manifestly well inclined without wavering and with unshaken fidelity, and had 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 law to every other nation, and continually neglecting the commands of the king, 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 signified to you in the letter written by Aman, who is set over the public affairs and is our second governor, to destroy them all utterly with their wives and children by the swords of the enemies, without pitying or sparing any, on the fourteenth day of the twelfth month 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.]

LXX2012 (US English)

In The King James Version

And the letters were sent by posts into all the king’s provinces, to destroy, to kill, and to cause to perish, all Jews, both young and old, little children and women, in one day, even upon the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, and to take the spoil of them for a prey.

In Context

12So the king's recorders were called in the first month, on the thirteenth day, and they wrote as Aman commanded to the captains and governors in every province, from India even to Ethiopia, to one hundred and twenty-seven provinces; and to the rulers of the nations according to their several languages, in the name of king Artaxerxes.

14And the copies of the letters were published in every province; and an order was given to all the nations to be ready against that day.

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Cross References

1 Samuel 22:19And he struck Nomba the city of the priest with the edge of the sword, both man, and woman, infant and suckling, and calf, and ox, and sheep.

Esther 7:4For both I and my people are sold for destruction, and pillage, and slavery; both we and our children for bondmen and bondwomen: and I consented not to it, for the + 7:4 see Heb. slanderer is not worthy of the king's palace.

Esther 8:10And they were written by order of the king, and sealed with his ring, and they sent the letters by the posts:

Esther 9:1For in the twelfth month, on the thirteenth day of the month which is Adar, the letters written by the king arrived.

Job 9:25But my life is swifter than a post: my days have fled away, and they knew it not.

Jeremiah 51:31THE WORD WHICH JEREMIAS THE PROPHET spoke to Baruch son of Nerias, when he wrote these words in the book from the mouth of Jeremias, in the fourth year of Joakim the son of Josias king of Juda.

Matthew Henry on Esther 3:8-15

Haman Obtains Leave to Slay the Jews. ( b. c. 510.) 7 In the first month, that is, the month Nisan, in the twelfth year of king Ahasuerus, they cast Pur, that is, the lot, before Haman from day to day, and from month to month, to the twelfth month, that is, the month Adar. 8 And Haman said unto king Ahasuerus, There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the people in all the provinces of thy kingdom; and their laws are diverse from all people; neither keep they the king's laws: therefore it is… Read the whole commentary →

This Verse In Other Editions

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