Esther 9

1 Therefore, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which as we have said before is called Adar, when all the Jews were prepared to be executed and their enemies were greedy for their blood, the situation turned around, and the Jews began to have the upper hand and to vindicate themselves of their adversaries.

And in two [plus] ten month that [is] [the] month of Adar on thir-teen day in it when it approached [the] word of the king and law his to be done on the day when they had hoped [the] enemies of the Jews to domineer over them and it was reversed it that they domineered the Jews they over [those who] hated them.

2 And they gathered together throughout each city, and town, and place, so as to extend their hands against their enemies and their persecutors. And no one dared to resist them, because their great power had pierced all the peoples.

They assembled the Jews in cities their in all [the] provinces of the king Ahasuerus to stretch out a hand on those seeking harm their and anyone not he stood before them for it had fallen dread of them on all the peoples.

3 For even the judges of the provinces, and the rulers, and the procurators, and everyone of dignity, who presided over every place and work, extolled the Jews for fear of Mordecai.

And all [the] officials of the provinces and the satraps and the governors and [the] doers of the work which [belonged] to the king [were] supporting the Jews for it had fallen [the] dread of Mordecai on them.

4 For they knew him to be the leader of the palace and to have much power. Likewise, the fame of his name increased daily and flew everywhere through word of mouth.

For [was] great Mordecai in [the] house of the king and [the] report of him [was] going in all the provinces for the man Mordecai [was] going and becoming great.

5 And so the Jews struck their enemies like a great plague and killed them, repaying according to what they had prepared to do to them,

And they struck down the Jews all enemies their a striking down of sword and slaughter and destruction and they did over [those who] hated them according to pleasure their.

6 so much so that even in Susa they executed five hundred men, besides the ten sons of Haman the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews, and their names are these:

And in Susa the citadel they killed the Jews and they destroyed five hundred man.

7 Parshandatha, and Dalphon, and Aspatha

And - Parshandatha and - Dalphon and - Aspatha.

8 and Poratha, and Adalia, and Aridatha,

And - Poratha and - Adalia and - Aridatha.

9 and Parmashta, and Arisai, and Aridai, and Vaizatha.

And - Parmashta and - Arisai and - Aridai and - Vaizatha.

10 When they had slain them, they were unwilling to touch the spoils of their belongings.

[the] ten [the] sons of Haman [the] son of Hammedatha [the] opposer of the Jews they killed and on the plunder not they stretched out hand their.

11 And immediately the number of those who had been killed in Susa was reported to the king.

On the day that it came [the] number of those killed in Susa the citadel before the king.

12 He said to the queen, “In the city of Susa, the Jews have executed five hundred men, and also the ten sons of Haman. How many executions do you think that they have carried out in all the provinces? What more do you ask, and what do you wish, so that I may order it to be done?”

And he said the king to Esther the queen in Susa the citadel they have killed the Jews and they have destroyed five hundred man and [the] ten [the] sons of Haman in [the] rest of [the] provinces of the king what? have they done and what? [is] petition your so it may be given to you and what? [is] request your more and it may be done.

13 And she answered, “If it pleases the king, may power be granted to the Jews, so as to do tomorrow in Susa just as they have done today, and that the ten sons of Haman may be hung up the gallows.”

And she said Esther if [is] on the king good let it be permitted also tomorrow to the Jews who [are] in Susa to do according to [the] law of this day and [the] ten [the] sons of Haman let them hang on the gallows.

14 And the king instructed that it should be so done. And immediately the edict was hung up in Susa, and the ten sons of Haman were hung up.

And he said the king to be done thus and it was given [the] law in Susa and [the] ten [the] sons of Haman people hanged.

15 On the fourteenth day of the month Adar, the Jews gathered themselves together, and they executed in Susa three hundred men, but they did not seize their belongings from them.

And they assembled (the Jews *Q(k)*) who [were] in Susa also on day four-teen of [the] month of Adar and they killed in Susa three hundred man and on the plunder not they stretched out hand their.

16 Moreover, throughout all the provinces which were subject to the king’s dominion, the Jews made a stand for their lives, and they executed their enemies and their persecutors, so much so that the number of those who were killed amounted to seventy-five thousand, and yet no one touched any of their belongings.

And [the] remainder of the Jews who [were] in [the] provinces of the king they assembled - and they made a stand on life their and they had rest from enemies their and they killed among [those who] hated them five and seventy thousand and on the plunder not they stretched out hand their.

17 Now the thirteenth day of the month Adar was the first day with all of the executions, and on the fourteenth day they ceased the killing. This day they established to be sacred, so that in all times hereafter they would be free for feasting, joyfulness, and celebration.

On day thir-teen of [the] month of Adar and they rested on [day] four-teen in it and they made it a day of feast and joy.

18 But, as for those who were carrying out the killings in the city of Susa, they turned to killing on the thirteenth and fourteenth day of the same month. But on the fifteenth day they ceased to attack. And for that reason they established that day as sacred, with feasting and with gladness.

(And the Jews *Q(k)*) who [were] in Susa they assembled on [day] thir-teen in it and on [day] four-teen in it and they rested on [day] fif-teen in it and they made it a day of feast and joy.

19 But in truth, those Jews who were staying in unwalled towns and villages, appointed the fourteenth day of the month Adar for celebration and gladness, so as to rejoice on that day and send one another portions of their feasts and their meals.

There-fore the Jews (the rural villagers *Q(k)*) who were dwelling in [the] cities of the open regions [are] observing day four-teen of [the] month Adar joy and a feast and a day good and [the] sending of portions each to neighbor his.

20 And so Mordecai wrote down all these things and sent them, composed in letters, to the Jews who were staying in all the king’s provinces, as much to those in nearby places as to those far away,

And he wrote Mordecai the words these and he sent out letters to all the Jews who [were] in all [the] provinces of the king Ahasuerus near and far.

21 so that they would accept the fourteenth and fifteenth day of the month Adar for holy days, and always, at the return of the year, would celebrate them with sacred esteem.

To impose on them to be observing day four-teen of [the] month Adar and day fif-teen in it in every year and year.

22 For on those days, the Jews vindicated themselves of their enemies, and their mourning and sorrow were turned into mirth and joy, so that these would be days of feasting and gladness, in which they would send one another portions of their feasts, and would grant gifts to the poor.

As the days when they had rest on them the Jews from enemies their and the month when it was changed for them from sorrow into joy and from mourning into a day good to make them days of feast and joy and [the] sending of portions each to neighbor his and gifts to the needy [people].

23 And the Jews accepted as a solemn ritual all the things which they had begun to do at that time, which Mordecai had commanded with letters to be done.

And he accepted the Jews [that] which they had begun to do and [that] which he had written Mordecai to them.

24 For Haman, the son of Hammedatha of Agag lineage, the enemy and adversary of the Jews, had devised evil against them, to kill them and to destroy them. And he had cast Pur, which in our language means the lot.

For Haman [the] son of Hammedatha the Agagite [the] opposer of all the Jews he had planned on the Jews to destroy them and he had cast Pur that [is] the lot to trouble them and to destroy them.

25 And after this, Esther had entered before the king, begging him that his efforts might be made ineffective by the king’s letters, and that the evil he intended against the Jews might return upon his own head. Finally, both he and his sons were fastened to a cross.

And when came it before the king he said with the letter let it return plan his evil which he had planned on the Jews on own head his and people will hang him and sons his on the gallows.

26 And so, from that time, these days are called Purim, that is, of the lots, because Pur, that is, the lot, was cast into the urn. And all things that had been carried out are contained in the volume of this epistle, that is, of this book.

There-fore people called the days these Purim on [the] name of the Pur there-fore on all [the] words of the letter this and whatever they had seen on thus and whatever it had happened to them.

27 And whatever they suffered, and whatever was altered afterwards, the Jews received for themselves and their offspring and for all who were willing to be joined to their religion, so that none would be permitted to transgress the solemnity of these two days, to which the writing testifies, and which certain times require, as the years continually succeed one another.

They imposed (and they accepted *Q(K)*) the Jews - on themselves - and on offspring their and on all who joined themselves to them and not it will pass away to be observing [the] two the days these according to writing their and according to appointed time their in every year and year.

28 These are the days which no one ever will erase into oblivion, and which every province in the whole world, throughout each generation, shall celebrate. Neither is there any city wherein the days of Purim, that is, of lots, may not be observed by the Jews, and by their posterity, which has been obligated to these ceremonies.

And the days these [were] remembered and observed in every generation and generation clan and clan province and province and city and city and [the] days of the Purim these not they will pass away from among the Jews and remembrance their not it will cease from offspring their.

29 And Esther the queen, the daughter of Abihail, and Mordecai the Jew, also wrote a second letter, so that with all zealousness this day would be confirmed as customary for future generations.

And she wrote Esther the queen [the] daughter of Abihail and Mordecai the Jew all authority to confirm [the] letter of the Purim this second.

30 And they sent to all the Jews, who had been stirred up in the one hundred twenty-seven provinces of king Artaxerxes, that they should have peace and receive truth,

And he sent letters to all the Jews to seven and twenty and one hundred province[s] [the] kingdom of Ahasuerus words of peace and truth.

31 and observe the days of lots, and celebrate them with joy at their proper time, just as Mordecai and Esther had established. And they accepted these to be observed by themselves and by their offspring: fasting, and crying out, and the days of lots,

To confirm [the] days of the Purim these at appointed times their just as he had imposed on them Mordecai the Jew and Esther the queen and just as they had imposed on self their and on offspring their [the] words of the fasts and cry of distress their.

32 and all things which are contained in the history of this book, which is called Esther.

And [the] command of Esther it confirmed [the] words of the Purim these and [it was] written in the book.