8:9 The king’s scribes were quickly 1 summoned – in the third month (that is, the month of Sivan), on the twenty-third day. 2 They wrote out 3 everything that Mordecai instructed to the Jews and to the satraps and the governors and the officials of the provinces all the way from India to Ethiopia 4 – a hundred and twenty-seven provinces in all – to each province in its own script and to each people in their own language, and to the Jews according to their own script and their own language. 8:10 Mordecai 5 wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed it with the king’s signet ring. He then sent letters by couriers on horses, who rode royal horses that were very swift.
8:11 The king thereby allowed the Jews who were in every city to assemble and to stand up for themselves – to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate any army of whatever people or province that should become their adversaries, including their women and children, 6 and to confiscate their property. 8:12 This was to take place on a certain day throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus – namely, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month (that is, the month of Adar). 8:13 A copy of the edict was to be presented as law throughout each and every province and made known to all peoples, so that the Jews might be prepared on that 7 day to avenge themselves from their enemies.
8:14 The couriers who were riding the royal horses went forth with the king’s edict without delay. 8 And the law was presented in Susa the citadel as well.
1 tn Heb “in that time”; NIV “At once.”
2 sn Cf. 3:12. Two months and ten days have passed since Haman’s edict to wipe out the Jews.
3 tn Heb “it was written”; this passive construction has been converted to an active one in the translation for clarity and for stylistic reasons.
4 tn Heb “Cush” (so NIV), referring to the region of the upper Nile in Africa. Cf. KJV and most other English versions “Ethiopia.”
5 tn Heb “He”; the referent (Mordecai) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
6 tn Heb “children and women.” As in 3:13, the translation follows contemporary English idiom, which reverses the order.
7 tn Heb “this” (so NASB); most English versions read “that” here for stylistic reasons.
8 tn Heb “making haste and hurrying”; KJV, ASV “being hastened and pressed.”