Esther 9
1 Igitur duodecimi mensis, quem Adar vocari ante iam diximus, tertiadecima die, quando cunctis Iudaeis interfectio parabatur, et hostes eorum inhiabant sanguini, versa vice Iudaei superiores esse coeperunt, 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 iudices, et duces, et procuratores, omnisque dignitas, quae singulis locis ac operibus praeerat, extollebant Iudaeos timore Mardochaei:
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 quem principem esse palatii, et plurimum posse cognoverant: fama quoque nominis eius 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 Iudaei 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 Agagitae hostis Iudaeorum: 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 Iezatha.
and Marmasima, and Ruphaeus, and Arsaeus, and Zabuthaeus,
10 Quos cum occidissent, praedas de substantiis eorum agere 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 reginae: In urbe Susan interfecerunt Iudaei quingentos viros, et alios decem filios Aman: quantam putas eos exercere caedem in universis provinciis? Quid ultra postulas, et quid vis ut fieri iubeam?
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 Iudaeis, 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 Praecepitque 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 Iudaeis 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, quae ditioni regis subiacebant, pro animabus suis steterunt Iudaei, interfectis hostibus ac persecutoribus suis: in tantum ut septuagintaquinque 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 caedere desierunt. Quem constituerunt esse sollemnem, 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 caedem exercuerant, tertiodecimo et quartodecimo die eiusdem mensis in caede versati sunt: quintodecimo autem die percutere desierunt. Et idcirco eundem diem constituerunt sollemnem epularum atque laetitiae.
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 Iudaei, 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 neighbor.
20 Scripsit itaque Mardochaeus omnia haec, et litteris comprehensa misit ad Iudaeos, 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 sollemni 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 Iudaei de inimicis suis, et luctus atque tristitia in hilaritatem gaudiumque conversa sunt, essentque dies isti epularum atque laetitiae, 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 Iudaei in sollemnem ritum cuncta quae eo tempore facere coeperant, et quae Mardochaeus 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 Iudaeorum, 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 eius, litteris regis irriti fierent: et malum, quod contra Iudaeos cogitaverat, reverteretur in caput eius. Denique et ipsum et filios eius 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, quae gesta sunt, epistolae, id est libri huius 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 quaeque sustinuerunt, et quae deinceps immutata sunt, susceperunt Iudaei super se et semen suum, et super cunctos, qui religioni eorum voluerunt copulari, ut nulli liceat duos hos dies absque sollemnitate transigere: quos scriptura testatur, et certa expetunt tempora, annis sibi iugiter 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 cunctae in toto orbe provinciae celebrabunt: nec est ulla civitas, in qua dies phurim, id est sortium, non observentur a Iudaeis, et ab eorum progenie, quae his ceremoniis 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 Mardochaeus Iudaeus etiam secundam epistolam, ut omni studio dies ista sollemnis 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 Iudaeos, 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 Mardochaeus et Esther, et illi observanda susceperunt a se, et a semine suo ieiunia, 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, quae libri huius, qui vocatur Esther, historia continentur.
And Esther established it by a command for ever, and it was written for a memorial.
