Esther 9

1 On the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar, the king’s command and edict were to be executed. On this day the enemies of the Jews had hoped to overpower them, but their plan was overturned and the Jews overpowered those who hated them.

For in the twelfth month, on the thirteenth day of the month which is Adar, the letters written by the king arrived.

2 In each of the provinces of King Xerxes, the Jews assembled in their cities to attack those who sought to harm them. No man could withstand them, because the fear of them had fallen upon all peoples.

In that day the adversaries of the Jews perished: for no one resisted, through fear of them.

3 And all the officials of the provinces, the satraps, the governors, and the king’s administrators helped the Jews, because the fear of Mordecai had fallen upon them.

For the chiefs of the satraps, and the princes and the royal scribes, honored the Jews; for the fear of Mardochaeus lay upon them.

4 For Mordecai exercised great power in the palace, and his fame spread throughout the provinces as he became more and more powerful.

For the order of the king was in force, that he should be celebrated in all the kingdom.

5 The Jews put all their enemies to the sword, killing and destroying them, and they did as they pleased to those who hated them.

6 In the citadel of Susa, the Jews killed and destroyed five hundred men,

And in the city Susa the Jews killed five hundred men:

7 including Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha,

both Pharsannes, and Delphon and Phasga,

8 Poratha, Adalia, Aridatha,

and Pharadatha, and Barea, and Sarbaca,

9 Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai, and Vaizatha.

and Marmasima, and Ruphaeus, and Arsaeus, and Zabuthaeus,

10 They killed these ten sons of Haman son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews, but they did not lay a hand on the plunder.

the ten sons of Aman the son of Amadathes the Bugaean, the enemy of the Jews, and they plundered [their property] on the same day:

11 On that day the number of those killed in the citadel of Susa was reported to the king,

and the number of them that perished in Susa was rendered to the king.

12 who said to Queen Esther, “In the citadel of Susa the Jews have killed and destroyed five hundred men, including Haman’s ten sons. What have they done in the rest of the royal provinces? Now what is your petition? It will be given to you. And what further do you request? It will be fulfilled.”

And the king said to Esther, The Jews have slain five hundred men in the city Susa; and how, think you, have they used them in the rest of the country? What then do you yet ask, that it may be [done] for you?

13 Esther replied, “If it pleases the king, may the Jews in Susa also have tomorrow to carry out today’s edict, and may the bodies of Haman’s ten sons be hanged on the gallows.”

And Esther said to the king, let it be granted to the Jews so to treat them tomorrow as to hand the ten sons of Aman.

14 So the king commanded that this be done. An edict was issued in Susa, and they hanged the ten sons of Haman.

And he permitted it to be so done; and he gave up to the Jews of the city the bodies of the sons of Aman to hang.

15 On the fourteenth day of the month of Adar, the Jews in Susa came together again and put to death three hundred men there, but they did not lay a hand on the plunder.

And the Jews assembled in Susa on the fourteenth [day] of Adar, and killed three hundred men, but plundered no property.

16 The rest of the Jews in the royal provinces also assembled to defend themselves and rid themselves of their enemies. They killed 75,000 who hated them, but they did not lay a hand on the plunder.

And the rest of the Jews who were in the kingdom assembled, and helped one another, and obtained rest from their enemies: for they destroyed fifteen thousand of them on the thirteenth [day] of Adar, but took no spoil.

17 This was done on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar, and on the fourteenth day they rested, making it a day of feasting and joy.

And they rested on the fourteenth of the same month, and kept it as a day of rest with joy and gladness.

18 The Jews in Susa, however, had assembled on the thirteenth and the fourteenth days of the month. So they rested on the fifteenth day, making it a day of feasting and joy.

And the Jews in the city Susa assembled also on the fourteenth [day] and rested; and they kept also the fifteenth with joy and gladness.

19 This is why the rural Jews, who live in the villages, observe the fourteenth day of the month of Adar as a day of joy and feasting. It is a holiday for sending gifts to one another.

On this account then [it is that] the Jews dispersed in every foreign land keep the fourteenth of Adar [as] a holy day with joy, sending portions each to his neighbor.

20 Mordecai recorded these events and sent letters to all the Jews in all the provinces of King Xerxes, both near and far,

And Mardochaeus wrote these things in a book, and sent them to the Jews, as many as were in the kingdom of Artaxerxes, both them that were near and them that were afar off,

21 to establish among them an annual celebration on the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month of Adar

to establish these [as] joyful days, and to keep the fourteenth and fifteenth of Adar;

22 as the days on which the Jews gained rest from their enemies and the month in which their sorrow turned to joy and their mourning into a holiday. He wrote that these were to be days of feasting and joy, of sending gifts to one another and to the poor.

for on these days the Jews obtained rest from their enemies; and [as to] the month, which was Adar, in which a change was made for them, from mourning to joy, and from sorrow to a good day, to spend the whole of it [in] good days of feasting and gladness, sending portions to their friends, and to the poor.

23 So the Jews agreed to continue the custom they had started, as Mordecai had written to them.

And the Jews consented [to this] accordingly as Mardochaeus wrote to them,

24 For Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had plotted against the Jews to destroy them and had cast the Pur (that is, the lot) to crush and destroy them.

[showing] how Aman the son of Amadathes the Macedonian fought against them, how he made a decree and cast lots to destroy them utterly;

25 But when it came before the king, he commanded by letter that the wicked scheme which Haman had devised against the Jews should come back upon his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows.

also how he went in to the king, telling [him] to hang Mardochaeus: but all the calamities he tried to bring upon the Jews came upon himself, and he was hanged, and his children.

26 Therefore these days are called Purim, from the word Pur. Because of all the instructions in this letter, and because of all they had seen and experienced,

Therefore these days were called Phrurae, because of the lots; (for in their language they are called Phrurae; ) because of the words of this letter, and [because of] all they suffered on this account, and all that happened to them.

27 the Jews bound themselves to establish the custom that they and their descendants and all who join them should not fail to celebrate these two days at the appointed time each and every year, according to their regulation.

And [Mardochaeus] established it, and the Jews took upon themselves, and upon their seed, and upon those that were joined to them [to observe it], neither would they on any account behave differently: but these days [were to be] a memorial kept in every generation, and city, and family, and province.

28 These days should be remembered and celebrated by every generation, family, province, and city, so that these days of Purim should not fail to be observed among the Jews, nor should the memory of them fade from their descendants.

And these days of the Phrurae, [said they, ]shall be kept for ever, and their memorial shall not fail in any generation.

29 So Queen Esther daughter of Abihail, along with Mordecai the Jew, wrote with full authority to confirm this second letter concerning Purim.

And queen Esther, the daughter of Aminadab, and Mardochaeus the Jew, wrote all that they had done, and the confirmation of the letter of Phrurae.

30 And Mordecai sent letters with words of peace and truth to all the Jews in the 127 provinces of the kingdom of Xerxes,

31 in order to confirm these days of Purim at their appointed time, just as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther had established them and had committed themselves and their descendants to the times of fasting and lamentation.

And Mardochaeus and Esther the queen appointed [a fast] for themselves privately, even at that time also having formed their plan against their own health.

32 So Esther’s decree confirmed these regulations about Purim, which were written into the record.

And Esther established it by a command for ever, and it was written for a memorial.