what...: Heb. according to their will

Geneva Study Bible

Thus the Jews smote all their {c} enemies with the stroke of the sword, and slaughter, and destruction, and did what they would unto those that hated them.

(c) Who had conspired their death by the permission of the wicked Haman.Esther 9:5 Parallel Commentaries

Place of Jesus in the History of the World.
The great event of the History of the world is the revolution by which the noblest portions of humanity have passed from the ancient religions, comprised under the vague name of Paganism, to a religion founded on the Divine Unity, the Trinity, and the Incarnation of the Son of God. It has taken nearly a thousand years to accomplish this conversion. The new religion had itself taken at least three hundred years in its formation. But the origin of the revolution in question with which we have to do …
Ernest Renan—The Life of Jesus

In the Days of Queen Esther
Under the favor shown them by Cyrus, nearly fifty thousand of the children of the captivity had taken advantage of the decree permitting their return. These, however, in comparison with the hundreds of thousands scattered throughout the provinces of Medo-Persia, were but a mere remnant. The great majority of the Israelites had chosen to remain in the land of their exile rather than undergo the hardships of the return journey and the re-establishment of their desolated cities and homes. A score or …
Ellen Gould White—The Story of Prophets and Kings