Ἐσθήρ 9
1 ἐν γὰρ τῷ δωδεκάτῳ μηνὶ τρισκαιδεκάτῃ τοῦ μηνός ὅς ἐστιν Αδαρ παρῆν τὰ γράμματα τὰ γραφέντα ὑπὸ τοῦ βασιλέως
Now in the twelfth month (that is the month of Adar), on the thirteenth day, when the king’s command and his decree was about to put into execution, on the day that the enemies of the Jews hoped to gain the mastery over them, then the tables were turned so that the Jews had the mastery over those who hated them.
2 ἐν αὐτῇ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἀπώλοντο οἱ ἀντικείμενοι τοῖς Ιουδαίοις οὐδεὶς γὰρ ἀντέστη φοβούμενος αὐτούς
The Jews gathered together in the cities throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, to attack anyone who tried to harm them. No one could withstand them, for the fear of them had fallen on all the peoples.
3 οἱ γὰρ ἄρχοντες τῶν σατραπῶν καὶ οἱ τύραννοι καὶ οἱ βασιλικοὶ γραμματεῖς ἐτίμων τοὺς Ιουδαίους ὁ γὰρ φόβος Μαρδοχαίου ἐνέκειτο αὐτοῖς
All the princes of the provinces and the satraps and the governors and they who attended to the king’s business, helped the Jews, because the fear of Mordecai had fallen on them.
4 προσέπεσεν γὰρ τὸ πρόσταγμα τοῦ βασιλέως ὀνομασθῆναι ἐν πάσῃ τῇ βασιλείᾳ
For Mordecai was great in the king’s palace, and as his power increased his fame spread throughout all the provinces.
The Jews put all their enemies to the sword and, with slaughter and destruction, they did what they wanted to those who hated them.
6 καὶ ἐν Σούσοις τῇ πόλει ἀπέκτειναν οἱ Ιουδαῖοι ἄνδρας πεντακοσίους
In Susa the capital the Jews killed five hundred people.
7 τόν τε Φαρσαννεσταιν καὶ Δελφων καὶ Φασγα
They killed Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha,
8 καὶ Φαρδαθα καὶ Βαρεα καὶ Σαρβαχα
Poratha, Adalia, Aridatha,
9 καὶ Μαρμασιμα καὶ Αρουφαιον καὶ Αρσαιον καὶ Ζαβουθαιθαν
Parmashta, Arisia, Aridai, and Vaizatha,
10 τοὺς δέκα υἱοὺς Αμαν Αμαδαθου Βουγαίου τοῦ ἐχθροῦ τῶν Ιουδαίων καὶ διήρπασαν
the ten sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Jews’ enemy; but they did not take any plunder.
11 ἐν αὐτῇ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐπεδόθη ὁ ἀριθμὸς τῷ βασιλεῖ τῶν ἀπολωλότων ἐν Σούσοις
On that day the number of those who were slain in Susa was brought before the king,
12 εἶπεν δὲ ὁ βασιλεὺς πρὸς Εσθηρ ἀπώλεσαν οἱ Ιουδαῖοι ἐν Σούσοις τῇ πόλει ἄνδρας πεντακοσίους ἐν δὲ τῇ περιχώρῳ πῶς οἴει ἐχρήσαντο τί οὖν ἀξιοῖς ἔτι καὶ ἔσται σοι
and the king said to Queen Esther, “The Jews have slain five hundred people in Susa, and 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 to you. What is your request? It will be done.”
13 καὶ εἶπεν Εσθηρ τῷ βασιλεῖ δοθήτω τοῖς Ιουδαίοις χρῆσθαι ὡσαύτως τὴν αὔριον ὥστε τοὺς δέκα υἱοὺς κρεμάσαι Αμαν
“If it please the king,” Esther said, “let it be granted to the Jews who are in Susa to do tomorrow also according to this day’s decree. Let the bodies of Haman’s ten sons be hanged on the gallows.”
14 καὶ ἐπέτρεψεν οὕτως γενέσθαι καὶ ἐξέθηκε τοῖς Ιουδαίοις τῆς πόλεως τὰ σώματα τῶν υἱῶν Αμαν κρεμάσαι
And the king commanded it to be done. A decree was given out in Susa and they hung the bodies of Haman’s ten sons on the gallows.
15 καὶ συνήχθησαν οἱ Ιουδαῖοι ἐν Σούσοις τῇ τεσσαρεσκαιδεκάτῃ τοῦ Αδαρ καὶ ἀπέκτειναν ἄνδρας τριακοσίους καὶ οὐδὲν διήρπασαν
The Jews who were in Susa gathered themselves together again on the fourteenth day of the month of Adar. They killed three hundred people in Susa. But they did not take any plunder.
16 οἱ δὲ λοιποὶ τῶν Ιουδαίων οἱ ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ συνήχθησαν καὶ ἑαυτοῖς ἐβοήθουν καὶ ἀνεπαύσαντο ἀπὸ τῶν πολεμίων ἀπώλεσαν γὰρ αὐτῶν μυρίους πεντακισχιλίους τῇ τρισκαιδεκάτῃ τοῦ Αδαρ καὶ οὐδὲν διήρπασαν
And the other Jews who were in the king’s provinces gathered themselves together and fought for their lives and overcame their enemies. They killed seventy-five thousand who hated them. But they did not take any plunder.
17 καὶ ἀνεπαύσαντο τῇ τεσσαρεσκαιδεκάτῃ τοῦ αὐτοῦ μηνὸς καὶ ἦγον αὐτὴν ἡμέραν ἀναπαύσεως μετὰ χαρᾶς καὶ εὐφροσύνης
This was on the thirteenth day of Adar. On the fourteenth day of the month Adar the Jews rested and made it a day of feasting and rejoicing.
18 οἱ δὲ Ιουδαῖοι οἱ ἐν Σούσοις τῇ πόλει συνήχθησαν καὶ τῇ τεσσαρεσκαιδεκάτῃ καὶ οὐκ ἀνεπαύσαντο ἦγον δὲ καὶ τὴν πεντεκαιδεκάτην μετὰ χαρᾶς καὶ εὐφροσύνης
(But the Jews in Susa gathered on both the thirteenth and fourteenth day – and rested on the fifteenth day of the same month and made it a day of feasting and rejoicing.)
19 διὰ τοῦτο οὖν οἱ Ιουδαῖοι οἱ διεσπαρμένοι ἐν πάσῃ χώρᾳ τῇ ἔξω ἄγουσιν τὴν τεσσαρεσκαιδεκάτην τοῦ Αδαρ ἡμέραν ἀγαθὴν μετ’ εὐφροσύνης ἀποστέλλοντες μερίδας ἕκαστος τῷ πλησίον οἱ δὲ κατοικοῦντες ἐν ταῖς μητροπόλεσιν καὶ τὴν πεντεκαιδεκάτην τοῦ Αδαρ ἡμέραν εὐφροσύνην ἀγαθὴν ἄγουσιν ἐξαποστέλλοντες μερίδας τοῖς πλησίον
This is why the Jews who live in the country villages keep the fourteenth day of the month of Adar as a day of rejoicing and feasting and a holiday, and a day in which they send gifts of food to each other.
20 ἔγραψεν δὲ Μαρδοχαῖος τοὺς λόγους τούτους εἰς βιβλίον καὶ ἐξαπέστειλεν τοῖς Ιουδαίοις ὅσοι ἦσαν ἐν τῇ Ἀρταξέρξου βασιλείᾳ τοῖς ἐγγὺς καὶ τοῖς μακράν
Mordecai had these things recorded. He sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of the King Ahasuerus, both near and far.
21 στῆσαι τὰς ἡμέρας ταύτας ἀγαθὰς ἄγειν τε τὴν τεσσαρεσκαιδεκάτην καὶ τὴν πεντεκαιδεκάτην τοῦ Αδαρ
He told them to keep the fourteenth day of the month of Adar and also the fifteenth day every year,
22 ἐν γὰρ ταύταις ταῖς ἡμέραις ἀνεπαύσαντο οἱ Ιουδαῖοι ἀπὸ τῶν ἐχθρῶν αὐτῶν καὶ τὸν μῆνα ἐν ᾧ ἐστράφη αὐτοῖς ὃς ἦν Αδαρ ἀπὸ πένθους εἰς χαρὰν καὶ ἀπὸ ὀδύνης εἰς ἀγαθὴν ἡμέραν ἄγειν ὅλον ἀγαθὰς ἡμέρας γάμων καὶ εὐφροσύνης ἐξαποστέλλοντας μερίδας τοῖς φίλοις καὶ τοῖς πτωχοῖς
as the days on which the Jews had rest from their enemies, and the month which was turned from sorrow to gladness and from mourning into a feast day. They should make them days of feasting and gladness and of sending gifts of food to each other and of gifts to the poor.
23 καὶ προσεδέξαντο οἱ Ιουδαῖοι καθὼς ἔγραψεν αὐτοῖς ὁ Μαρδοχαῖος
So what the Jews had begun to do they adopted as a custom, just as Mordecai had written to them.
24 πῶς Αμαν Αμαδαθου ὁ Μακεδὼν ἐπολέμει αὐτούς καθὼς ἔθετο ψήφισμα καὶ κλῆρον ἀφανίσαι αὐτούς
For Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had plotted to destroy them. He had cast ‘Pur’, that is the lot, intending to consume them and to destroy them.
25 καὶ ὡς εἰσῆλθεν πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα λέγων κρεμάσαι τὸν Μαρδοχαῖον ὅσα δὲ ἐπεχείρησεν ἐπάξαι ἐπὶ τοὺς Ιουδαίους κακά ἐπ’ αὐτὸν ἐγένοντο καὶ ἐκρεμάσθη αὐτὸς καὶ τὰ τέκνα αὐτοῦ
But when the matter came before the king, he gave written orders that his wicked plot, which he had planned against the Jews, should come upon his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows.
26 διὰ τοῦτο ἐπεκλήθησαν αἱ ἡμέραι αὗται Φρουραι διὰ τοὺς κλήρους ὅτι τῇ διαλέκτῳ αὐτῶν καλοῦνται Φρουραι διὰ τοὺς λόγους τῆς ἐπιστολῆς ταύτης καὶ ὅσα πεπόνθασιν διὰ ταῦτα καὶ ὅσα αὐτοῖς ἐγένετο
This is why these days are called Purim, after the word Pur. Therefore because of all the words of this letter, as well as all they had seen, and all they had experienced,
27 καὶ ἔστησεν καὶ προσεδέχοντο οἱ Ιουδαῖοι ἐφ’ ἑαυτοῖς καὶ ἐπὶ τῷ σπέρματι αὐτῶν καὶ ἐπὶ τοῖς προστεθειμένοις ἐπ’ αὐτῶν οὐδὲ μὴν ἄλλως χρήσονται αἱ δὲ ἡμέραι αὗται μνημόσυνον ἐπιτελούμενον κατὰ γενεὰν καὶ γενεὰν καὶ πόλιν καὶ πατριὰν καὶ χώραν
the Jews established and made it a custom for them, for their descendants, and for all who should join them, so that it might not be repealed, that they should continue to observe these two days as feasts each year,
28 αἱ δὲ ἡμέραι αὗται τῶν Φρουραι ἀχθήσονται εἰς τὸν ἅπαντα χρόνον καὶ τὸ μνημόσυνον αὐτῶν οὐ μὴ ἐκλίπῃ ἐκ τῶν γενεῶν
and that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, every family, every province, and every city. And these days of Purim should not pass away from among the Jews nor the remembrance of them disappear among their descendants.
29 καὶ ἔγραψεν Εσθηρ ἡ βασίλισσα θυγάτηρ Αμιναδαβ καὶ Μαρδοχαῖος ὁ Ιουδαῖος ὅσα ἐποίησαν τό τε στερέωμα τῆς ἐπιστολῆς τῶν Φρουραι
Queen Esther, the daughter of Abihail, gave Mordecai the Jew all authority in writing to confirm this second letter of Purim.
He sent letters to all the Jews, to the hundred and twenty-seven provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, wishing them peace and security,
31 καὶ Μαρδοχαῖος καὶ Εσθηρ ἡ βασίλισσα ἔστησαν ἑαυτοῖς καθ’ ἑαυτῶν καὶ τότε στήσαντες κατὰ τῆς ὑγιείας αὐτῶν καὶ τὴν βουλὴν αὐτῶν
to confirm these days of Purim in their proper times, to be observed as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther had directed and as the Jews had proscribed for themselves and their descendants, in the matter of the fastings and their cry of lamentation.
32 καὶ Εσθηρ λόγῳ ἔστησεν εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα καὶ ἐγράφη εἰς μνημόσυνον
And the commands of Esther confirmed these matters of Purim; and it was written in the records.
