以斯帖記 9
1 十二月，乃亞達月十三日，王的諭旨將要舉行，就是猶大人的仇敵盼望轄制他們的日子，猶大人反倒轄制恨他們的人。
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 猶大人在亞哈隨魯王各省的城裏聚集，下手擊殺那要害他們的人。無人能敵擋他們，因為各族都懼怕他們。
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 各省的首領、總督、省長，和辦理王事的人，因懼怕末底改，就都幫助猶大人。
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 末底改在朝中為大，名聲傳遍各省，日漸昌盛。
For Mordecai was great in the king’s palace, and as his power increased his fame spread throughout all the provinces.
5 猶大人用刀擊殺一切仇敵，任意殺滅恨他們的人。
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 在書珊城，猶大人殺滅了五百人；
In Susa the capital the Jews killed five hundred people.
7 又殺巴珊大他、達分、亞斯帕他、
They killed Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha,
8 破拉他、亞大利雅、亞利大他、
Poratha, Adalia, Aridatha,
9 帕瑪斯他、亞利賽、亞利代、瓦耶撒他；
Parmashta, Arisia, Aridai, and Vaizatha,
10 這十人都是哈米大他的孫子、猶大人仇敵哈曼的兒子。猶大人卻沒有下手奪取財物。
the ten sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Jews’ enemy; but they did not take any plunder.
11 當日，將書珊城被殺的人數呈在王前。
On that day the number of those who were slain in Susa was brought before the king,
12 王對王后以斯帖說：「猶大人在書珊城殺滅了五百人，又殺了哈曼的十個兒子，在王的各省不知如何呢？現在你要甚麼，我必賜給你；你還求甚麼，也必為你成就。」
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 以斯帖說：「王若以為美，求你准書珊的猶大人，明日也照今日的旨意行，並將哈曼十個兒子的屍首掛在木架上。」
“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。旨意傳在書珊，人就把哈曼十個兒子的屍首掛起來了。
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 亞達月十四日，書珊的猶大人又聚集在書珊，殺了三百人，卻沒有下手奪取財物。
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 在王各省其餘的猶大人也都聚集保護性命，殺了恨他們的人七萬五千，卻沒有下手奪取財物。這樣，就脫離仇敵，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 亞達月十三日，行了這事；十四日安息，以這日為設筵歡樂的日子。
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 但書珊的猶大人，這十三日、十四日聚集殺戮仇敵；十五日安息，以這日為設筵歡樂的日子。
(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 所以住無城牆鄉村的猶大人，如今都以亞達月十四日為設筵歡樂的吉日，彼此餽送禮物。
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 末底改記錄這事，寫信與亞哈隨魯王各省遠近所有的猶大人，
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 囑咐他們每年守亞達月十四、十五兩日，
He told them to keep the fourteenth day of the month of Adar and also the fifteenth day every year,
22 以這月的兩日為猶大人脫離仇敵得平安、轉憂為喜、轉悲為樂的吉日。在這兩日設筵歡樂，彼此餽送禮物，賙濟窮人。
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 於是，猶大人按着末底改所寫與他們的信，應承照初次所守的守為永例；
So what the Jews had begun to do they adopted as a custom, just as Mordecai had written to them.
24 是因猶大人的仇敵亞甲族哈米大他的兒子哈曼設謀殺害猶大人，掣普珥，就是掣籤，為要殺盡滅絕他們；
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 這事報告於王，王便降旨使哈曼謀害猶大人的惡事歸到他自己的頭上，並吩咐把他和他的眾子都掛在木架上。
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，猶大人就稱這兩日為「普珥日」。他們因這信上的話，又因所看見所遇見的事，
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 就應承自己與後裔，並歸附他們的人，每年按時必守這兩日，永遠不廢。
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、家家戶戶、世世代代紀念遵守這兩日，使這「普珥日」在猶大人中不可廢掉，在他們後裔中也不可忘記。
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 亞比孩的女兒－王后以斯帖和猶大人末底改以全權寫第二封信，堅囑猶大人守這「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 用和平誠實話寫信給亞哈隨魯王國中一百二十七省所有的猶大人，
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 勸他們按時守這「普珥日」，禁食呼求，是照猶大人末底改和王后以斯帖所囑咐的，也照猶大人為自己與後裔所應承的。
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」，這事也記錄在書上。
And the commands of Esther confirmed these matters of Purim; and it was written in the records.
