Esther, 13

1. The text of the letter was as follows: The Great King Ahasuerus to the rulers of the hundred and twenty-seven provinces from India to Ethiopia and to the governors under them:

2. As ruler of many nations and master of the whole world, I have resolved never to be carried away by the arrogance of power but always to rule with fairness and clemency, to provide for my subjects a life free of distress, and to restore the peace that all men desire by making my government humane and truly civilized as far as the borders of my kingdom.

3. When I consulted my advisers on how this might be accomplished, Haman, who excels among us in wisdom, who has earned distinction for trustworthiness and loyalty, and who has attained the second rank in the kingdom,

4. brought to our attention the existence throughout my realm of a people of ill will, whose laws are opposed to those of every nation. Their continuous disregard of the decrees of kings hinders the establishment of unity in the empire.

5. Considering, therefore, the continuous opposition of this people to all humankind, its outlandish system of laws and strange manner of life, its hostility to our interests and the harm it does to the stability of our kingdom,

6. we hereby decree that all the people indicated in the letters of Haman, who is in charge of affairs and a second father to us, be utterly destroyed with women and children, by the sword, without mercy or consideration, on the fourteenth day of the twelfth month, Adar, of the present year,

7. so that when these people, with their past and present ill will, have gone down into the world of the dead on a single day, they may at last leave our government in complete stability and peace.

8. Recalling all that the Lord had done, he prayed to him and said:

9. Lord, King and Master of all, everything is under your power; no one can withstand you in your will to save Israel.

10. You made heaven and earth and all the marvels under heaven.

11. You are the Lord of all, no one can resist you, Lord.

12. You know all things, O Lord; you know that no insolence, no vainglory or arrogance prompted me to act thus, to refuse to bow down before the proud Haman.

13. Readily would I have kissed his feet for Israel's safety.

14. But what I did, I did so as not to place human glory above the glory of God. I will not bow down to anyone except to you, O Lord. My refusal has not been out of pride.

15. And now, Lord God, King, God of Abraham, deliver your people! Our enemies plot our ruin; they are bent upon destroying the inheritance that was yours from the beginning.

16. Do not forsake your own inheritance which you redeemed out of Egypt for yourself.

17. Hear my supplication, have mercy on your inheritance. Turn our mourning into rejoicing, that we may live to sing praise to your name, O Lord. Do not silence the mouths of those who give you praise.

18. And Israel cried out with all their might, for they were faced with death.