16. and are sons of the highest and greatest and ever-living God, by whose kindness the kingdom was handed down both to our fathers and to us, and is cared for even unto this day.
17. Therefore, you should understand to be null and void those letters that he administered under our name.
18. For this crime, before the gates of this city, that is, Susa, both he who devised it, and all his associates, hang on gallows: not we, but God repaying him as he deserved.
19. But this edict, which we now send, shall be displayed in all cities so that the Jews may be allowed to use their own laws.
20. You must be a support to them, so that they may be able to execute those, who themselves had prepared to kill them, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is called Adar.
21. For the almighty God has turned this day of grief and sorrow into joy for them.
22. Therefore, you too will keep this day, along with the other festival days, and celebrate it with all joy, so that it may be known even by future generations.
23. All those who faithfully obey the Persians deserve, for their fidelity, to receive a reward, but those who are traitors to their kingdom deserve to be destroyed for their crime.
24. But every province and city, which is not willing to participate in this solemnity, must perish by the sword and by fire, and be destroyed in this way so that they will be forever an indisputable example of contempt and disobedience, not only to humans, but even to wild animals."
25. And such was the content of the letter, so that it would be made known in all lands and nations, which are subject to the authority of king Artaxerxes, that the Jews have been made ready to be vindicated of their enemies.
26. And so the swift couriers departed in haste, carrying through the announcement, and the king's edict was hung up in Susa.
27. But Mordecai, going forth from the palace and from the king's presence, shone in royal apparel the color of hyacinth and of the sky, wearing a golden crown on his head, and clothed with a cloak of silk and purple. And all the city rejoiced and was joyful.
28. But for the Jews, a new light seemed to rise; there was joy, honor, and dancing.
29. With all the peoples, cities, and provinces, wherever the king's orders arrived, there was wonderful rejoicing, banquets and feasts, and a solemn holy day, so much so that many of the other nations joined themselves to their religious practices and ceremonies. For a great fear of the name of the Jews had overcome them all.