Then were the king’s scribes called on the thirteenth day of the first month, and there was written according to all that Haman had commanded unto the king’s lieutenants, and to the governors that were over every province, and to the rulers of every people of every province according to the writing thereof, and to every people after their language; in the name of king Ahasuerus was it written, and sealed with the king’s ring. And the letters were sent by posts into all the king’s provinces, to destroy, to kill, and to cause to perish, all Jews, both young and old, little children and women, in one day, even upon the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, and to take the spoil of them for a prey. The copy of the writing for a commandment to be given in every province was published unto all people, that they should be ready against that day. The posts went out, being hastened by the king’s commandment, and the decree was given in Shushan the palace. And the king and Haman sat down to drink; but the city Shushan was perplexed.
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1 The background image for this page was generated from a photo of a Persépolis Inscription. According to Wikipedia, it is an ancient Persian inscription within the ruins of Persépolis. Persépolis was the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire (550-330 BC). You can see the original photo Here at Wikimedia.org. The inlay is an example of how scribes would typically write on cuneiform tablets.
Think about how much of a production it must have been for this decree to have been sent out throughout the Medo-Persian empire. They had to translate the decree into 127 different languages. Then they had to orchestrate the cuneiform writing of the decree in all those languages onto thousands of tablets, after which they had to deliver those thousands of tablets to all the officials throughout the provinces of the empire. It must have been quite an elaborate system and a great amount of labor.
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