Esther 9
1 The first law that the king had commanded was to be made effective on March 7th. On that day the enemies of the Jews hoped to get rid of them. But instead, on that same day the Jews defeated their enemies.
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。
2 Throughout the empire, the Jews gathered together in their cities to attack those who wanted to get rid of them. No one could fight against the Jews, because all the other people in the areas where the Jews lived were afraid of them, [so they did not want to help anyone who attacked the Jews].
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。
3 All the governors and [other] officials and important people in all the provinces helped the Jews, because they were afraid of Mordecai.
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。
4 They were afraid of him because in all the provinces [they knew that] Mordecai was now the king’s most important official, [with the authority that Haman previously had]. Mordecai was becoming more famous because [the king was giving him] more and more power.
末底改在朝中为大，名声传遍各省，日渐昌盛。
5 [On March 7th, ] the Jews attacked and killed with their swords all of their enemies. They did whatever they wanted to do, to the people who hated them.
犹大人用刀击杀一切仇敌，任意杀灭恨他们的人。
6 [Just] in Susa alone, the capital city, they killed 500 people.
在书珊城，犹大人杀灭了五百人；
7 Among those whom they killed were the ten sons of Haman. [Their names were] Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha,
又杀巴珊大他、达分、亚斯帕他、
8 Poratha, Adalia, Aridatha,
破拉他、亚大利雅、亚利大他、
9 Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai, and Vaizatha.
帕玛斯他、亚利赛、亚利代、瓦耶撒他；
10 Those were grandsons of Hammedatha and sons of Haman, the enemy of the Jews. The Jews killed them, but they did not take the things that belonged to the people whom they killed.
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。
11 [At the end of] that day someone reported to the king the number of people whom the Jews killed in Susa.
当日，将书珊城被杀的人数呈在王前。
12 Then the king said to Queen Esther, “The Jews have killed 500 people here in Susa, including the ten sons of Haman! [So I think that] they must have killed many more people in the rest of my empire [RHQ]! [But okay], now what else do you want me to do for you. You tell me, and I will do it.”
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。”
13 Esther replied, “If it pleases you, allow the Jews here in Susa to do again tomorrow what [you] commanded [them] to do today. And command that the bodies of Haman’s ten sons be hanged on the gallows/poles.”
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。”
14 So the king commanded that the Jews be permitted to kill more of their enemies the next day. After he issued [another] order in Susa, the bodies of Haman’s ten sons were hanged.
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。
15 On the next day, the Jews in Susa gathered together and killed 300 more people. But [again, ] they did not take the things that belonged to the people whom they killed.
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。
16 That happened on March 8th. On the following day, the Jews [in Susa] rested and celebrated. In all the other provinces, the Jewish people gathered together to defend themselves, and they killed 75,000 people who hated them, but [again] they did not take the things that belonged to the people whom they killed.
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。
17 That occurred on March 7th, and on the following day they rested and celebrated.
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。
18 After the Jews in Susa gathered together [and killed their enemies] on March 7th and 8th, they rested and celebrated on March 9th.
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。
19 That is why [every year], on March 8th, the Jews who live in villages now celebrate [defeating their enemies]. They have feasts and give gifts [of food] to each other.
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。
20 Mordecai wrote down all the things that had happened. Then he sent letters to the Jews who lived throughout the empire of King Xerxes.
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，
21 He told them that every year they should celebrate on the 8th and 9th of March,
嘱咐他们每年守亚达月十四、十五两日，
22 because those were the days when the Jews got rid of their enemies. He also told them that they should celebrate on those days by feasting and giving gifts [of food] to each other and to poor people. They would remember it as the month in which they changed from being very sorrowful to being very joyful, from crying to celebrating.
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。
23 So the Jews agreed to do what Mordecai wrote. They agreed to celebrate on those days [every year].
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；
24 They would remember how Haman, son of Hammedatha, a descendant of [King] Agag, became an enemy of all the Jews. [They would remember] how he had made an evil plan to kill the Jews, and that he had (cast lots/thrown small marked stones) to choose the day to kill [DOU] them.
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；
25 [They would remember] that when Esther told the king about Haman’s plan, the king arranged that the evil plan that Haman had made to kill the Jews would fail, and that he [would be killed] instead of the Jews, and that Haman and that his sons were hanged.
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。
26 [Because the (lot/small marked stone) that Haman threw was called] Pur, the Jews called these days Purim. And, because of everything that ([Mordecai] wrote/was written) in that letter, and because of all that happened to them,
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，
27 the Jews [throughout the empire] agreed to celebrate in that manner on those two days every year. They said that they would tell their descendants and those people who became Jews to be certain to celebrate this festival every year. They should celebrate just as [Mordecai] told them to do [in the letter] that he wrote.
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。
28 They said that they would remember and celebrate on those two days every year, in each family, in every city, and in every province. They solemnly declared that they and their descendants would never stop remembering and celebrating those days called Purim.
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。
29 Then Mordecai and Queen Esther, who was the daughter of Abihail, wrote a second letter about the Purim feast. Esther used the authority that she had because of being the queen to confirm that what Mordecai had written in the first letter was true.
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”，
30 What they wrote [in the second letter] was, “We wish that all of you will be living peacefully and safely/righteously. We want you and your descendants to celebrate Purim each year on the days that we two established, and to do the things that we two told you to do.” In that letter, Queen Esther and Mordecai also gave them instructions about (fasting/abstaining from eating food) and being sorrowful. Then copies of that letter were sent to all the Jews who were living in the 127 provinces of the empire.
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，
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。
32 The letter that Esther wrote about the manner in which they should celebrate the Purim feast was also written in an official record.
以斯帖命定守“普珥日”，这事也记录在书上。
