7 In the first month, which is the month of Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, ^xthey cast Pur (that is, they cast lots) before Haman day after day; and they cast it month after month till the twelfth month, which is ^ythe month of Adar.

12 ^dThen the king’s scribes were summoned on the thirteenth day of the first month, and an edict, according to all that Haman commanded, was written to the king’s ^esatraps and to the governors over all the provinces and to the officials of all the peoples, ^fto every province in its own script and every people in its own language. It was written ^gin the name of King Ahasuerus ^hand sealed with the king’s signet ring.