Esther 9

1 And in the twelfth month — it [is] the month of Adar — on the thirteenth day of it, in which the word of the king, even his law, hath come to be done, in the day that the enemies of the Jews had hoped to rule over them, and it is turned that the Jews rule over those hating them —

Now on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, when the time came for the king's order to be put into effect, on the very day when the haters of the Jews had been hoping to have rule over them; though the opposite had come about, and the Jews had rule over their haters;

2 the Jews have been assembled in their cities, in all provinces of the king Ahasuerus, to put forth a hand on those seeking their evil, and no man hath stood in their presence, for their fear hath fallen on all the peoples.

On that day, the Jews came together in their towns through all the divisions of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, for the purpose of attacking all those who were attempting evil against them: and everyone had to give way before them, for the fear of them had come on all the peoples.

3 And all heads of the provinces, and the lieutenants, and the governors, and those doing the work that the king hath, are lifting up the Jews, for a fear of Mordecai hath fallen upon them;

And all the chiefs and the captains and the rulers and those who did the king's business gave support to the Jews; because the fear of Mordecai had come on them.

4 for great [is] Mordecai in the house of the king, and his fame is going into all the provinces, for the man Mordecai is going on and becoming great.

For Mordecai was great in the king's house, and word of him went out through every part of the kingdom: for the man Mordecai became greater and greater.

5 And the Jews smite among all their enemies — a smiting of the sword, and slaughter, and destruction — and do with those hating them according to their pleasure,

So the Jews overcame all their attackers with the sword and with death and destruction, and did to their haters whatever they had a desire to do.

6 and in Shushan the palace have the Jews slain and destroyed five hundred men;

And in Shushan the Jews put to death five hundred men.

7 and Parshandatha, and Dalphon, and Aspatha,

They put to death Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha,

8 and Poratha, and Adalia, and Aridatha,

Poratha, Adalia, Aridatha,

9 and Parmashta, and Arisai, and Aridai, and Vajezatha,

Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai, and Vaizatha,

10 ten sons of Haman son of Hammedatha, adversary of the Jews, they have slain, and on the prey they have not put forth their hand.

The ten sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the hater of the Jews; but they put not a hand on any of their goods.

11 On that day hath come the number of the slain in Shushan the palace before the king,

On that day the number of those who had been put to death in the town of Shushan was given to the king.

12 and the king saith to Esther the queen, 'In Shushan the palace have the Jews slain and destroyed five hundred men, and the ten sons of Haman; in the rest of the provinces of the king what have they done? and what [is] thy petition? and it is given to thee; and what thy request again? and it is done.'

And the king said to Esther the queen, The Jews have put five hundred men to death in Shushan, as well as the ten sons of Haman: what then have they done in the rest of the kingdom! Now what is your prayer? for it will be given to you; what other request have you? and it will be done.

13 And Esther saith, 'If to the king [it be] good, let it be given also to-morrow, to the Jews who [are] in Shushan, to do according to the law of to-day; and the ten sons of Haman they hang on the tree.'

Then Esther said, If it is the king's pleasure, let authority be given to the Jews in Shushan to do tomorrow as has been done today, and let orders be given for the hanging of Haman's ten sons.

14 And the king saith — 'to be done so;' and a law is given in Shushan, and the ten sons of Haman they have hanged.

And the king said that this was to be done, and the order was given out in Shushan, and the hanging of Haman's ten sons was effected.

15 And the Jews who [are] in Shushan are assembled also on the fourteenth day of the month of Adar, and they slay in Shushan three hundred men, and on the prey they have not put forth their hand.

For the Jews who were in Shushan came together again on the fourteenth day of the month Adar and put to death three hundred men in Shushan; but they put not a hand on their goods.

16 And the rest of the Jews, who [are] in the provinces of the king, have been assembled, even to stand for their life, and to rest from their enemies, and to slay among those hating them five and seventy thousand, and on the prey they have not put forth their hand;

And the other Jews in every division of the kingdom came together, fighting for their lives, and got salvation from their haters and put seventy-five thousand of them to death; but they did not put a hand on their goods.

17 on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar, even to rest on the fourteenth of it, and to make it a day of banquet and of joy.

This they did on the thirteenth day of the month Adar; and on the fourteenth day of the same month they took their rest, and made it a day of feasting and joy.

18 And the Jews who [are] in Shushan have been assembled, on the thirteenth day of it, and on the fourteenth of it, even to rest on the fifteenth of it, and to make it a day of banquet and of joy.

But the Jews in Shushan came together on the thirteenth and on the fourteenth day of the month; and on the fifteenth day they took their rest, and made it a day of feasting and joy.

19 Therefore the Jews of the villages, who are dwelling in cities of the villages, are making the fourteenth day of the month of Adar — joy and banquet, and a good day, and of sending portions one to another.

So the Jews of the country places living in unwalled towns make the fourteenth day of the month Adar a day of feasting and joy and a good day, a day for sending offerings one to another.

20 And Mordecai writeth these things, and sendeth letters unto all the Jews who [are] in all provinces of the king Ahasuerus, who are near and who are far off,

And Mordecai sent letters to all the Jews in every division of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, near and far,

21 to establish on them, to be keeping the fourteenth day of the month of Adar, and the fifteenth day of it, in every year and year,

Ordering them to keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar and the fifteenth day of the same month, every year,

22 as days on which the Jews have rested from their enemies, and the month that hath been turned to them from sorrow to joy, and from mourning to a good day, to make them days of banquet and of joy, and of sending portions one to another, and gifts to the needy.

As days on which the Jews had rest from their haters, and the month which for them was turned from sorrow to joy, and from weeping to a good day: and that they were to keep them as days of feasting and joy, of sending offerings to one another and good things to the poor.

23 And the Jews have received that which they had begun to do, and that which Mordecai hath written unto them,

And the Jews gave their word to go on as they had been doing and as Mordecai had given them orders in writing;

24 because Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, adversary of all the Jews, had devised concerning the Jews to destroy them, and had caused to fall Pur — that [is] the lot — to crush them and to destroy them;

Because Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the hater of all the Jews, had made designs for their destruction, attempting to get a decision by Pur (that is, chance) with a view to putting an end to them and cutting them off;

25 and in her coming in before the king, he said with the letter, 'Let his evil device that he devised against the Jews turn back upon his own head,' and they have hanged him and his sons on the tree,

But when the business was put before the king, he gave orders by letters that the evil design which he had made against the Jews was to be turned against himself; and that he and his sons were to be put to death by hanging.

26 therefore they have called these days Purim — by the name of the lot — therefore, because of all the words of this letter, and what they have seen concerning this, and what hath come unto them,

So these days were named Purim, after the name of Pur. And so, because of the words of this letter, and of what they had seen in connection with this business, and what had come to them,

27 the Jews have established and received upon them, and upon their seed, and upon all those joined unto them, and it doth not pass away, to be keeping these two days according to their writing, and according to their season, in every year and year;

The Jews made a rule and gave an undertaking, causing their seed and all those who were joined to them to do the same, so that it might be in force for ever, that they would keep those two days, as ordered in the letter, at the fixed time every year;

28 and these days are remembered and kept in every generation and generation, family and family, province and province, and city and city, and these days of Purim do not pass away from the midst of the Jews, and their memorial is not ended from their seed.

And that those days were to be kept in memory through every generation and every family, in every division of the kingdom and every town, that there might never be a time when these days of Purim would not be kept among the Jews, or when the memory of them would go from the minds of their seed.

29 And Esther the queen, daughter of Abihail, writeth, and Mordecai the Jew, with all might, to establish this second letter of Purim,

Then Esther the queen, daughter of Abihail, and Mordecai the Jew, sent a second letter giving the force of their authority to the order about the Purim.

30 and he sendeth letters unto all the Jews, unto the seven and twenty and a hundred provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus — words of peace and truth —

And he sent letters to all the Jews in the hundred and twenty-seven divisions of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, with true words of peace,

31 to establish these days of Purim, in their seasons, as Mordecai the Jew hath established on them, and Esther the queen, and as they had established on themselves, and on their seed — matters of the fastings, and of their cry.

Giving the force of law to these days of Purim at their fixed times, as they had been ordered by Mordecai the Jew and Esther the queen, and in keeping with the rules they had made for themselves and their seed, in connection with their time of going without food and their cry for help.

32 And a saying of Esther hath established these matters of Purim, and it is written in the Book.

The order given by Esther gave the force of law to the rules about the Purim; and it was recorded in the book.