Esta 9
1 Katika siku ya kumi na tatu ya mwezi wa kumi na mbili, yaani mwezi wa Adari, amri iliyoagizwa na mfalme ilikuwa itekelezwe. Siku hii adui wa Wayahudi walikuwa wametumaini kuwashinda, lakini sasa mambo yaliwageukia na Wayahudi wakawashinda wale waliokuwa wanawachukia.
Therefore, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which as we have said before is called Adar, when all the Jews were prepared to be executed and their enemies were greedy for their blood, the situation turned around, and the Jews began to have the upper hand and to vindicate themselves of their adversaries.
2 Wayahudi walikusanyika katika miji yao, katika majimbo ya Mfalme Ahasuero kuwashambulia wale waliokuwa wanatafuta kuwaangamiza. Hakuna yeyote aliyeweza kushindana nao, kwa sababu watu wa mataifa mengine yote waliwaogopa.
And they gathered together throughout each city, and town, and place, so as to extend their hands against their enemies and their persecutors. And no one dared to resist them, because their great power had pierced all the peoples.
3 Nao wakuu wote wa majimbo, majemadari, watawala na maafisa wa mfalme wakawasaidia Wayahudi, kwa sababu walimhofu Mordekai.
For even the judges of the provinces, and the rulers, and the procurators, and everyone of dignity, who presided over every place and work, extolled the Jews for fear of Mordecai.
4 Mordekai alikuwa mtu mashuhuri katika jumba la mfalme; sifa zake zilienea katika majimbo yote naye alipata uwezo zaidi na zaidi.
For they knew him to be the leader of the palace and to have much power. Likewise, the fame of his name increased daily and flew everywhere through word of mouth.
5 Wayahudi waliwaangusha adui zao wote kwa upanga wakiwaua na kuwaangamiza, nao walifanya kile walichotaka kwa wale waliowachukia.
And so the Jews struck their enemies like a great plague and killed them, repaying according to what they had prepared to do to them,
6 Katika ngome ya Shushani Wayahudi waliua na kuangamiza wanaume 500.
so much so that even in Susa they executed five hundred men, besides the ten sons of Haman the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews, and their names are these:
7 Pia waliwaua Parshendatha, Dalfoni, Aspatha,
Parshandatha, and Dalphon, and Aspatha
8 Poratha, Adalia, Ardatha,
and Poratha, and Adalia, and Aridatha,
9 Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai na Waizatha,
and Parmashta, and Arisai, and Aridai, and Vaizatha.
10 wana kumi wa Hamani mwana wa Hamedatha, adui wa Wayahudi. Lakini hawakuchukua nyara.
When they had slain them, they were unwilling to touch the spoils of their belongings.
11 Mfalme aliarifiwa siku iyo hiyo hesabu ya waliouawa katika ngome ya Shushani.
And immediately the number of those who had been killed in Susa was reported to the king.
12 Mfalme akamwambia Malkia Esta, “Wayahudi wamewaua wanaume 500 na wana kumi wa Hamani ndani ya ngome ya Shushani. Wamefanyaje katika majimbo mengine ya mfalme yaliyobaki? Je, sasa haja yako ni nini? Nayo pia utapewa. Nalo ombi lako ni nini? Nalo utafanyiwa.”
He said to the queen, “In the city of Susa, the Jews have executed five hundred men, and also the ten sons of Haman. How many executions do you think that they have carried out in all the provinces? What more do you ask, and what do you wish, so that I may order it to be done?”
13 Esta akajibu, “Ikimpendeza mfalme, uwape ruhusa Wayahudi walioko Shushani warudie amri ya leo kesho pia, na wana wa Hamani kumi wanyongwe mahali pa kunyongea watu.”
And she answered, “If it pleases the king, may power be granted to the Jews, so as to do tomorrow in Susa just as they have done today, and that the ten sons of Haman may be hung up the gallows.”
14 Basi mfalme akaamuru kwamba hili litendeke. Amri ilitolewa huko Shushani, nao wakawanyonga wana kumi wa Hamani.
And the king instructed that it should be so done. And immediately the edict was hung up in Susa, and the ten sons of Haman were hung up.
15 Wayahudi huko Shushani wakakusanyika pamoja siku ya kumi na nne ya mwezi wa Adari, nao wakawaua wanaume 300 huko Shushani, lakini hawakuchukua nyara zao.
On the fourteenth day of the month Adar, the Jews gathered themselves together, and they executed in Susa three hundred men, but they did not seize their belongings from them.
16 Wakati ule ule, Wayahudi wengine waliokuwa kwenye majimbo ya mfalme, wakakusanyika kujilinda nao wakapata nafuu kutokana na adui zao. Waliua adui zao wapatao 75,000 lakini hawakugusa nyara zao.
Moreover, throughout all the provinces which were subject to the king’s dominion, the Jews made a stand for their lives, and they executed their enemies and their persecutors, so much so that the number of those who were killed amounted to seventy-five thousand, and yet no one touched any of their belongings.
17 Hili lilitendeka siku ya kumi na tatu ya mwezi wa Adari na siku ya kumi na nne walipumzika na kuifanya siku ya karamu na furaha.
Now the thirteenth day of the month Adar was the first day with all of the executions, and on the fourteenth day they ceased the killing. This day they established to be sacred, so that in all times hereafter they would be free for feasting, joyfulness, and celebration.
18 Wayahudi huko Shushani, hata hivyo, walikuwa wamekusanyika siku ya kumi na tatu na ya kumi na nne, pia siku ya kumi na tano walipumzika na kuifanya siku ya karamu na furaha.
But, as for those who were carrying out the killings in the city of Susa, they turned to killing on the thirteenth and fourteenth day of the same month. But on the fifteenth day they ceased to attack. And for that reason they established that day as sacred, with feasting and with gladness.
19 Ndiyo sababu Wayahudi wanaokaa vijijini na katika miji midogo huadhimisha siku ya kumi na nne ya mwezi wa Adari kama siku ya furaha na karamu, siku ambayo wao hupeana zawadi mmoja kwa mwingine.
But in truth, those Jews who were staying in unwalled towns and villages, appointed the fourteenth day of the month Adar for celebration and gladness, so as to rejoice on that day and send one another portions of their feasts and their meals.
20 Mordekai aliandika matukio haya, naye akapeleka barua kwa Wayahudi wote walioko katika majimbo ya Mfalme Ahasuero, majimbo yaliyo mbali na karibu,
And so Mordecai wrote down all these things and sent them, composed in letters, to the Jews who were staying in all the king’s provinces, as much to those in nearby places as to those far away,
21 akiwataka kila mwaka washerehekee siku ya kumi na nne na ya kumi na tano ya mwezi wa Adari
so that they would accept the fourteenth and fifteenth day of the month Adar for holy days, and always, at the return of the year, would celebrate them with sacred esteem.
22 kama wakati ambao Wayahudi walipata nafuu kutoka kwa adui zao na kama mwezi ambao huzuni yao iligeuzwa kuwa furaha na kuomboleza kwao kuwa siku ya kusherehekea. Aliwaandikia kushika siku hizo kama siku za karamu na za furaha na kupeana zawadi za vyakula wao kwa wao na zawadi kwa maskini.
For on those days, the Jews vindicated themselves of their enemies, and their mourning and sorrow were turned into mirth and joy, so that these would be days of feasting and gladness, in which they would send one another portions of their feasts, and would grant gifts to the poor.
23 Hivyo Wayahudi walikubali kuendeleza sherehe walizokuwa wamezianza, wakifanya lile Mordekai alilokuwa amewaandikia.
And the Jews accepted as a solemn ritual all the things which they had begun to do at that time, which Mordecai had commanded with letters to be done.
24 Kwa maana Hamani mwana wa Hamedatha Mwagagi, adui wa Wayahudi wote, alikuwa amepanga hila dhidi ya Wayahudi ili kuwaangamiza, na alikuwa amepiga puri (yaani kura) kwa ajili ya maangamizi na uharibifu wao.
For Haman, the son of Hammedatha of Agag lineage, the enemy and adversary of the Jews, had devised evil against them, to kill them and to destroy them. And he had cast Pur, which in our language means the lot.
25 Lakini wakati shauri hilo baya lilipoarifiwa kwa mfalme, alitoa amri iliyoandikwa kwamba mipango mibaya ambayo Hamani ameipanga dhidi ya Wayahudi inapasa imrudie juu ya kichwa chake mwenyewe, na kwamba yeye na wanawe waangikwe mahali pa kunyongea watu.
And after this, Esther had entered before the king, begging him that his efforts might be made ineffective by the king’s letters, and that the evil he intended against the Jews might return upon his own head. Finally, both he and his sons were fastened to a cross.
26 (Kwa hiyo siku hizi ziliitwa Purimu, kutokana na neno puri.) Kwa sababu ya kila kitu kilichoandikwa kwenye barua hii na kwa sababu ya yale waliyoyaona na yale yaliyowatokea,
And so, from that time, these days are called Purim, that is, of the lots, because Pur, that is, the lot, was cast into the urn. And all things that had been carried out are contained in the volume of this epistle, that is, of this book.
27 Wayahudi wakachukua na kuifanya desturi kwamba wao na wazao wao na wote ambao walijiunga nao wangefanya bila kuacha kushika siku hizi mbili kila mwaka, kwa njia ilivyoelekezwa na kwa wakati wake.
And whatever they suffered, and whatever was altered afterwards, the Jews received for themselves and their offspring and for all who were willing to be joined to their religion, so that none would be permitted to transgress the solemnity of these two days, to which the writing testifies, and which certain times require, as the years continually succeed one another.
28 Siku hizi zinapasa zikumbukwe na kuadhimishwa katika kila kizazi, kila jamaa na katika kila jimbo na kila jiji. Nazo siku hizi za Purimu kamwe zisikome kusherehekewa na Wayahudi, wala kumbukumbu zake zisipotee miongoni mwa wazao wake.
These are the days which no one ever will erase into oblivion, and which every province in the whole world, throughout each generation, shall celebrate. Neither is there any city wherein the days of Purim, that is, of lots, may not be observed by the Jews, and by their posterity, which has been obligated to these ceremonies.
29 Basi Malkia Esta binti Abihaili, pamoja na Mordekai, Myahudi, waliandika kwa mamlaka yote kuthibitisha barua hii ya pili kuhusu Purimu.
And Esther the queen, the daughter of Abihail, and Mordecai the Jew, also wrote a second letter, so that with all zealousness this day would be confirmed as customary for future generations.
30 Naye Mordekai akatuma barua kwa Wayahudi wote katika majimbo 127 ya ufalme wa Ahasuero, barua zenye maneno ya amani na matumaini,
And they sent to all the Jews, who had been stirred up in the one hundred twenty-seven provinces of king Artaxerxes, that they should have peace and receive truth,
31 ili kuimarisha siku hizi za Purimu katika majira yake yaliyowekwa, kama Mordekai, Myahudi na Malkia Esta walivyowaamuru, na walivyojiimarisha wenyewe na wazao wao kuhusu nyakati za kufunga na kuomboleza.
and observe the days of lots, and celebrate them with joy at their proper time, just as Mordecai and Esther had established. And they accepted these to be observed by themselves and by their offspring: fasting, and crying out, and the days of lots,
32 Amri ya Esta ilithibitisha taratibu hizi kuhusu Purimu, nayo ikaandikwa katika kumbukumbu.
and all things which are contained in the history of this book, which is called Esther.
