< Esther 9 >

1 Now in the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar, on the thirteenth day, when the king's law and decree were about to be carried out, on the day when the enemies of the Jews hoped to gain power over them, it was reversed. The Jews gained power over 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 The Jews assembled in their cities throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, to lay hands on those who tried to bring disaster on them. No one could stand against them, for the fear of them had fallen on all the peoples.
In that day the adversaries of the Jews perished: for no one resisted, through fear of them.
3 All the officials of the provinces, the provincial governors, the governors, and the king's administrators, helped the Jews because the fear of Mordecai had fallen on 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 was great in the king's house, and his fame spread throughout all the provinces, for the man Mordecai was becoming great.
For the order of the king was in force, that he should be celebrated in all the kingdom.
5 The Jews attacked their enemies with the sword, killing and destroying them, and did as they pleased to those who hated them.
6 In the fortress of Susa itself the Jews killed and destroyed five hundred men.
And in the city Susa the Jews killed five hundred men:
7 They killed Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha,
both Pharsannes, and Delphon and Phasga,
8 Poratha, Adalia, Aridatha,
and Pharadatha, and Barea, and Sarbaca,
9 Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai, Vaizatha,
and Marmasima, and Ruphaeus, and Arsaeus, and Zabuthaeus,
10 and the ten sons of Haman son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews. But they did not take any 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 That day the number of those killed in the fortress of Susa, was reported to the king.
and the number of them that perished in Susa was rendered to the king.
12 The king said to Queen Esther, “The Jews have killed five hundred men in the fortress of Susa, including 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 you. What is your request? It will be granted to you.”
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 said, “If it pleases the king, let the Jews who are in Susa be permitted to carry out this day's decree tomorrow also, and let the bodies of Haman's ten sons be hanged on 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. A decree 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 The Jews who were in Susa came together on the fourteenth day of the month of Adar, and killed three hundred more men in Susa, but laid no hands 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 who were in the king's provinces came together to defend their lives, and they got relief from their enemies and killed seventy-five thousand of those who hated them, but they did not lay their hands on the valuables of those they killed.
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 happened on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar. On the fourteenth day they rested and made that a day of feasting and gladness.
And they rested on the fourteenth of the same month, and kept it as a day of rest with joy and gladness.
18 But the Jews who were in Susa assembled together on the thirteenth and the fourteenth days. On the fifteenth day they rested and made it a day of feasting and gladness.
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 That is why the Jews of the villages, who make their homes in the rural towns, observe the fourteenth day of the month of Adar as a day of gladness and feasting, and as a day on which they send gifts of food 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 things and sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, 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 obligating them to keep the fourteenth and the fifteenth day of Adar every year.
to establish these [as] joyful days, and to keep the fourteenth and fifteenth of Adar;
22 These were the days when the Jews got relief from their enemies, and the month when their sorrow turned to joy, and mourning into a day of celebration. They were to make them days of feasting and gladness, and of sending gifts of food to one another, and gifts 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 continued the celebration they had begun, doing what Mordecai had written to them.
And the Jews consented [to this] accordingly as Mardochaeus wrote to them,
24 At that time Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had plotted against the Jews to destroy them, and he threw Pur (that is, he threw lots), 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 the matter came before the king, he gave orders by letters that the wicked plan Haman developed against the Jews should come back on 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 they called these days Purim, after the name of Pur. Because of everything that was written in this letter, and everything that they had seen and that had happened to them,
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 accepted a new custom and duty. This custom would be for themselves, their descendants, and everyone who joined them. It would be that they would celebrate these two days every year. They would celebrate them in a certain way and at the same time each year.
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 were to be celebrated and observed in every generation, every family, every province, and every city. These Jews and their descendants would never cease to faithfully observe these days of Purim, so that they should never forget them.
And these days of the Phrurae, [said they, ]shall be kept for ever, and their memorial shall not fail in any generation.
29 Queen Esther daughter of Abihail and Mordecai the Jew wrote with full authority and confirmed this second letter about 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 Letters were sent to all the Jews in the 127 provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, wishing the Jews safety and truth.
31 These letters confirmed the days of Purim at their appointed times, as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther obligated the Jews. The Jews accepted this obligation for themselves and their descendants, just as also they accepted times of fasting and lamenting.
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 The command of Esther confirmed these regulations regarding Purim, and it was written in the book.
And Esther established it by a command for ever, and it was written for a memorial.

< Esther 9 >