¹³ Letters were sent ^(A)by couriers to all the king's provinces with instruction ^(B)to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate all Jews, young and old, women and children, ^(C)in one day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar, ^(D)and to plunder their goods.

^4 (A)For we have been sold, I and my people, ^(B)to be destroyed, to be killed, and to be annihilated. If we had been sold merely as slaves, men and women, I would have been silent, for our affliction is not to be compared with the loss to the king.”