以斯帖记 9
1 十二月，乃亚达月十三日，王的谕旨将要举行，就是犹大人的仇敌盼望辖制他们的日子，犹大人反倒辖制恨他们的人。
Now in the twelfth month (that is the month of Adar), on the thirteenth day, when the king’s command and his decree was about to put into execution, on the day that the enemies of the Jews hoped to gain the mastery over them, then the tables were turned so that the Jews had the mastery over those who hated them.
2 犹大人在亚哈随鲁王各省的城里聚集，下手击杀那要害他们的人。无人能敌挡他们，因为各族都惧怕他们。
The Jews gathered together in the cities throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, to attack anyone who tried to harm them. No one could withstand them, for the fear of them had fallen on all the peoples.
3 各省的首领、总督、省长，和办理王事的人，因惧怕末底改，就都帮助犹大人。
All the princes of the provinces and the satraps and the governors and they who attended to the king’s business, helped the Jews, because the fear of Mordecai had fallen on them.
4 末底改在朝中为大，名声传遍各省，日渐昌盛。
For Mordecai was great in the king’s palace, and as his power increased his fame spread throughout all the provinces.
5 犹大人用刀击杀一切仇敌，任意杀灭恨他们的人。
The Jews put all their enemies to the sword and, with slaughter and destruction, they did what they wanted to those who hated them.
6 在书珊城，犹大人杀灭了五百人；
In Susa the capital the Jews killed five hundred people.
7 又杀巴珊大他、达分、亚斯帕他、
They killed Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha,
8 破拉他、亚大利雅、亚利大他、
Poratha, Adalia, Aridatha,
9 帕玛斯他、亚利赛、亚利代、瓦耶撒他；
Parmashta, Arisia, Aridai, and Vaizatha,
10 这十人都是哈米大他的孙子、犹大人仇敌哈曼的儿子。犹大人却没有下手夺取财物。
the ten sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Jews’ enemy; but they did not take any plunder.
11 当日，将书珊城被杀的人数呈在王前。
On that day the number of those who were slain in Susa was brought before the king,
12 王对王后以斯帖说：“犹大人在书珊城杀灭了五百人，又杀了哈曼的十个儿子，在王的各省不知如何呢？现在你要什么，我必赐给你；你还求什么，也必为你成就。”
and the king said to Queen Esther, ‘The Jews have slain five hundred people in Susa, and the ten sons of Haman. What then have they done in the rest of the king’s provinces! Now what is your petition? It will be granted to you. What is your request? It will be done.’
13 以斯帖说：“王若以为美，求你准书珊的犹大人，明日也照今日的旨意行，并将哈曼十个儿子的尸首挂在木架上。”
‘If it please the king,’ Esther said, ‘let it be granted to the Jews who are in Susa to do tomorrow also according to this day’s decree. Let the bodies of Haman’s ten sons be hanged on the gallows.’
14 王便允准如此行。旨意传在书珊，人就把哈曼十个儿子的尸首挂起来了。
And the king commanded it to be done. A decree was given out in Susa and they hung the bodies of Haman’s ten sons on the gallows.
15 亚达月十四日，书珊的犹大人又聚集在书珊，杀了三百人，却没有下手夺取财物。
The Jews who were in Susa gathered themselves together again on the fourteenth day of the month of Adar. They killed three hundred people in Susa. But they did not take any plunder.
16 在王各省其余的犹大人也都聚集保护性命，杀了恨他们的人七万五千，却没有下手夺取财物。这样，就脱离仇敌，得享平安。
And the other Jews who were in the king’s provinces gathered themselves together and fought for their lives and overcame their enemies. They killed seventy-five thousand who hated them. But they did not take any plunder.
17 亚达月十三日，行了这事；十四日安息，以这日为设筵欢乐的日子。
This was on the thirteenth day of Adar. On the fourteenth day of the month Adar the Jews rested and made it a day of feasting and rejoicing.
18 但书珊的犹大人，这十三日、十四日聚集杀戮仇敌；十五日安息，以这日为设筵欢乐的日子。
(But the Jews in Susa gathered on both the thirteenth and fourteenth day – and rested on the fifteenth day of the same month and made it a day of feasting and rejoicing.)
19 所以住无城墙乡村的犹大人，如今都以亚达月十四日为设筵欢乐的吉日，彼此馈送礼物。
This is why the Jews who live in the country villages keep the fourteenth day of the month of Adar as a day of rejoicing and feasting and a holiday, and a day in which they send gifts of food to each other.
20 末底改记录这事，写信与亚哈随鲁王各省远近所有的犹大人，
Mordecai had these things recorded. He sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of the King Ahasuerus, both near and far.
21 嘱咐他们每年守亚达月十四、十五两日，
He told them to keep the fourteenth day of the month of Adar and also the fifteenth day every year,
22 以这月的两日为犹大人脱离仇敌得平安、转忧为喜、转悲为乐的吉日。在这两日设筵欢乐，彼此馈送礼物，周济穷人。
as the days on which the Jews had rest from their enemies, and the month which was turned from sorrow to gladness and from mourning into a feast day. They should make them days of feasting and gladness and of sending gifts of food to each other and of gifts to the poor.
23 于是，犹大人按着末底改所写与他们的信，应承照初次所守的守为永例；
So what the Jews had begun to do they adopted as a custom, just as Mordecai had written to them.
24 是因犹大人的仇敌亚甲族哈米大他的儿子哈曼设谋杀害犹大人，掣普珥，就是掣签，为要杀尽灭绝他们；
For Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had plotted to destroy them. He had cast “Pur”, that is the lot, intending to consume them and to destroy them.
25 这事报告于王，王便降旨使哈曼谋害犹大人的恶事归到他自己的头上，并吩咐把他和他的众子都挂在木架上。
But when the matter came before the king, he gave written orders that his wicked plot, which he had planned against the Jews, should come upon his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows.
26 照着普珥的名字，犹大人就称这两日为“普珥日”。他们因这信上的话，又因所看见所遇见的事，
This is why these days are called Purim, after the word Pur. Therefore because of all the words of this letter, as well as all they had seen, and all they had experienced,
27 就应承自己与后裔，并归附他们的人，每年按时必守这两日，永远不废。
the Jews established and made it a custom for them, for their descendants, and for all who should join them, so that it might not be repealed, that they should continue to observe these two days as feasts each year,
28 各省各城、家家户户、世世代代纪念遵守这两日，使这“普珥日”在犹大人中不可废掉，在他们后裔中也不可忘记。
and that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, every family, every province, and every city. And these days of Purim should not pass away from among the Jews nor the remembrance of them disappear among their descendants.
29 亚比孩的女儿—王后以斯帖和犹大人末底改以全权写第二封信，坚嘱犹大人守这“普珥日”，
Queen Esther, the daughter of Abihail, gave Mordecai the Jew all authority in writing to confirm this second letter of Purim.
30 用和平诚实话写信给亚哈随鲁王国中一百二十七省所有的犹大人，
He sent letters to all the Jews, to the hundred and twenty-seven provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, wishing them peace and security,
31 劝他们按时守这“普珥日”，禁食呼求，是照犹大人末底改和王后以斯帖所嘱咐的，也照犹大人为自己与后裔所应承的。
to confirm these days of Purim in their proper times, to be observed as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther had directed and as the Jews had proscribed for themselves and their descendants, in the matter of the fastings and their cry of lamentation.
32 以斯帖命定守“普珥日”，这事也记录在书上。
And the commands of Esther confirmed these matters of Purim; and it was written in the records.
