8:11 assault them, both little ones and women. It is likely that the intended sense of this edict was that the Jews were authorized to defend themselves and to slay those who essayed to “assault them, both little ones...for a prey.” That is, the section beginning with “assault” and ending with “prey” was merely a quote from Haman’s earlier decree (Esther 3:13). As far as the record goes, the Jews in defending themselves slew only the men (Esther 9:6,15) and took no prey for themselves (Esther 9:10,15-16).

8:11 take the spoil. The new decree granted the Jews not only the right to defend themselves against their enemies who were bent on destroying them, but also to slay those who would assault them and to take the property of their enemies for themselves. It is to their credit, however, that they did not take this spoil as they were authorized to do. Three times it is noted that they took no spoil from their enemies (Esther 9:10,15,16). They were thankful for their divine deliverance, and that was enough.