Esther 9

1 Igitur duodecimi mensis, quem Adar vocari ante jam diximus, tertiadecima die, quando cunctis Judæis interfectio parabatur, et hostes eorum inhiabant sanguini, versa vice Judæi superiores esse cœperunt, et se de adversariis vindicare.

For in the twelfth month, on the thirteenth day of the month which is Adar, the letters written by the king arrived.

2 Congregatique sunt per singulas civitates, oppida, et loca, ut extenderent manum contra inimicos, et persecutores suos. Nullusque ausus est resistere, eo quod omnes populos magnitudinis eorum formido penetrarat.

In that day the adversaries of the Jews perished: for no one resisted, through fear of them.

3 Nam et provinciarum judices, et duces, et procuratores, omnisque dignitas quæ singulis locis ac operibus præerat, extollebant Judæos timore Mardochæi,

For the chiefs of the satraps, and the princes and the royal scribes, honoured the Jews; for the fear of Mardochaeus lay upon them.

4 quem principem esse palatii, et plurimum posse cognoverant: fama quoque nominis ejus crescebat quotidie, et per cunctorum ora volitabat.

For the order of the king was in force, that he should be celebrated in all the kingdom.

5 Itaque percusserunt Judæi inimicos suos plaga magna, et occiderunt eos, reddentes eis quod sibi paraverant facere:

6 in tantum ut etiam in Susan quingentos viros interficerent, extra decem filios Aman Agagitæ hostis Judæorum: quorum ista sunt nomina:

And in the city Susa the Jews killed five hundred men:

7 Pharsandatha, et Delphon, et Esphatha,

both Pharsannes, and Delphon and Phasga,

8 et Phoratha, et Adalia, et Aridatha,

and Pharadatha, and Barea, and Sarbaca,

9 et Phermesta, et Arisai, et Aridai, et Jezatha.

and Marmasima, and Ruphaeus, and Arsaeus, and Zabuthaeus,

10 Quos cum occidissent, prædas de substantiis eorum tangere noluerunt.

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 Statimque numerus eorum, qui occisi erant in Susan, ad regem relatus est.

and the number of them that perished in Susa was rendered to the king.

12 Qui dixit reginæ: In urbe Susan interfecerunt Judæi quingentos viros, et alios decem filios Aman: quantam putas eos exercere cædem in universis provinciis? quid ultra postulas, et quid vis ut fieri jubeam?

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 Cui illa respondit: Si regi placet, detur potestas Judæis, ut sicut fecerunt hodie in Susan, sic et cras faciant, et decem filii Aman in patibulis suspendantur.

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 Præcepitque rex ut ita fieret. Statimque in Susan pependit edictum, et decem filii Aman suspensi sunt.

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 Congregatis Judæis quartadecima die mensis Adar, interfecti sunt in Susan trecenti viri: nec eorum ab illis direpta substantia est.

And the Jews assembled in Susa on the fourteenth [day] of Adar, and killed three hundred men, but plundered no property.

16 Sed et per omnes provincias quæ ditioni regis subjacebant, pro animabus suis steterunt Judæi, interfectis hostibus ac persecutoribus suis: in tantum ut septuaginta quinque millia occisorum implerentur, et nullus de substantiis eorum quidquam contingeret.

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 Dies autem tertiusdecimus mensis Adar primus apud omnes interfectionis fuit, et quartadecima die cædere desierunt. Quem constituerunt esse solemnem, ut in eo omni tempore deinceps vacarent epulis, gaudio, atque conviviis.

And they rested on the fourteenth of the same month, and kept it as a day of rest with joy and gladness.

18 At hi, qui in urbe Susan cædem exercuerant, tertiodecimo et quartodecimo die ejusdem mensis in cæde versati sunt: quintodecimo autem die percutere desierunt. Et idcirco eumdem diem constituerunt solemnem epularum atque lætitiæ.

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 Hi vero Judæi, qui in oppidis non muratis ac villis morabantur, quartumdecimum diem mensis Adar conviviorum et gaudii decreverunt, ita ut exultent in eo, et mittant sibi mutuo partes epularum et ciborum.

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 neighbour.

20 Scripsit itaque Mardochæus omnia hæc, et litteris comprehensa misit ad Judæos qui in omnibus regis provinciis morabantur, tam in vicino positis, quam procul,

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 ut quartamdecimam et quintamdecimam diem mensis Adar pro festis susciperent, et revertente semper anno solemni celebrarent honore:

to establish these [as] joyful days, and to keep the fourteenth and fifteenth of Adar;

22 quia in ipsis diebus se ulti sunt Judæi de inimicis suis, et luctus atque tristitia in hilaritatem gaudiumque conversa sunt, essentque dies isti epularum atque lætitiæ, et mitterent sibi invicem ciborum partes, et pauperibus munuscula largirentur.

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 Susceperuntque Judæi in solemnem ritum cuncta quæ eo tempore facere cœperant, et quæ Mardochæus litteris facienda mandaverat.

And the Jews consented [to this] accordingly as Mardochaeus wrote to them,

24 Aman enim, filius Amadathi stirpis Agag, hostis et adversarius Judæorum, cogitavit contra eos malum, ut occideret illos atque deleret: et misit phur, quod nostra lingua vertitur in sortem.

[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 Et postea ingressa est Esther ad regem, obsecrans ut conatus ejus litteris regis irriti fierent, et malum quod contra Judæos cogitaverat, reverteretur in caput ejus. Denique et ipsum et filios ejus affixerunt cruci,

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 atque ex illo tempore dies isti appellati sunt phurim, id est sortium: eo quod phur, id est sors, in urnam missa fuerit. Et cuncta quæ gesta sunt, epistolæ, id est, libri hujus volumine, continentur:

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 quæque sustinuerunt, et quæ deinceps immutata sunt, susceperunt Judæi super se et semen suum, et super cunctos qui religioni eorum voluerunt copulari, ut nulli liceat duos hos dies absque solemnitate transigere, quos scriptura testatur, et certa expetunt tempora, annis sibi jugiter succedentibus.

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 Isti sunt dies, quos nulla umquam delebit oblivio, et per singulas generationes cunctæ in toto orbe provinciæ celebrabunt: nec est ulla civitas, in qua dies phurim, id est sortium, non observentur a Judæis, et ab eorum progenie, quæ his cæremoniis obligata est.

And these days of the Phrurae, [said they, ]shall be kept for ever, and their memorial shall not fail in any generation.

29 Scripseruntque Esther regina filia Abihail, et Mardochæus Judæus, etiam secundam epistolam, ut omni studio dies ista solemnis sanciretur in posterum:

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 et miserunt ad omnes Judæos qui in centum viginti septem provinciis regis Assueri versabantur, ut haberent pacem, et susciperent veritatem,

31 observantes dies sortium, et suo tempore cum gaudio celebrarent: sicut constituerant Mardochæus et Esther, et illi observanda susceperunt a se, et a semine suo, jejunia, et clamores, et sortium dies,

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 et omnia quæ libri hujus, qui vocatur Esther, historia continentur.

And Esther established it by a command for ever, and it was written for a memorial.