Ɛster 9
1 Na Adar ɔsram (bɛyɛ Ɔbɛnem) da a ɛto so ason no, wɔde ɔhene no mmara abien no yɛɛ adwuma. Saa da no na Yudafo no atamfo no ani da so sɛ wɔbɛsɛe wɔn, nanso ani danee.
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 Yudafo no boaa wɔn ho ano wɔ wɔn nkuropɔn a ɛwɔ ɔhene amantam no mu no nyinaa so, bɔɔ wɔn ho ban de tiaa obiara a ɔpɛ sɛ ɔbɛhaw wɔn no. Nanso obiara antumi ansɔre antia wɔn, efisɛ na obiara suro wɔn.
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 Esiane Mordekai ho hu nti, amantam so asafohene nyinaa, mmapɔmma, amradofo ne ɔhene adwumayɛfo nyinaa boaa Yudafo no.
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 Efisɛ na wɔama Mordekai panyin wɔ ahemfi hɔ, ama ne din ahyeta amantam no nyinaa mu, bere a na ne tumi nso rekɔ soro.
For Mordecai was great in the king’s palace, and as his power increased his fame spread throughout all the provinces.
5 Yudafo no kunkum wɔn atamfo, sɛee wɔn wɔ afoa ano. Wokunkum wɔn atamfo, tɔree wɔn ase, na wɔyɛɛ wɔn a wɔtan wɔn no nea wɔpɛ biara.
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 Wokunkum nnipa ahannum wɔ Susa aban no mu.
In Susa the capital the Jews killed five hundred people.
7 Wɔsan kunkum Parsandata, Dalfon ne Aspata,
They killed Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha,
8 Porata, Adalia, Aridata,
Poratha, Adalia, Aridatha,
9 Parmasta, Arisai, Aridai ne Waisata
Parmashta, Arisia, Aridai, and Vaizatha,
10 a, wɔyɛ Hamedata babarima Haman a ɔyɛ Yudafo tamfo no mmabarima du no. Nanso wɔamfa asade biara.
the ten sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Jews’ enemy; but they did not take any plunder.
11 Bere a wɔbɔɔ ɔhene no amanneɛ a ɛfa nnipa dodow a wokum wɔn wɔ Susa aban mu ho anwummere no,
On that day the number of those who were slain in Susa was brought before the king,
12 ɔma wɔfrɛɛ Ɔhemmea Ɛster, na ɔka kyerɛɛ no se, “Yudafo no akunkum nnipa ahannum wɔ Susa aban mu nko ara ne Haman mmabarima du no. Sɛ wɔayɛ saa wɔ ha de a, ɛno de asɛm bɛn na asi wɔ amantam a aka no mu? Afei, dɛn bio na wohwehwɛ? Wɔde bɛma wo; ka kyerɛ me na mɛyɛ.”
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 Na Ɛster kae se, “Ɔhempɔn, sɛ ɛsɔ wʼani a, ma Yudafo a wɔwɔ Susa no kwan na wɔnyɛ nea wɔyɛɛ no nnɛ no bio ɔkyena, na wɔmfa Haman mmabarima du no amu nsensɛn nnua so.”
“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 Na ɔhene no penee so, na wɔbɔɔ mmara no ho dawuru wɔ Susa. Wɔsan de Haman mmabarima du no amu sensɛn nnua so.
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 Na Yudafo a wɔwɔ Susa no boaa wɔn ho ano Adar ɔsram (bɛyɛ Ɔbɛnem) da a ɛto so awotwe, na wɔsan kunkum nnipa ahaasa; na bio, wɔamfa asade biara.
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 Saa bere no na Yudafo nkae a wɔwɔ Ɔhene no amantam mu nyinaa aboa wɔn ho ano, rebɔ wɔn nkwa ho ban. Wokum wɔn atamfo no mpem aduɔson anum, nam so nyaa ɔhome fii wɔn atamfo nsam. Nanso wɔamfa asade biara.
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 Saa ara na wɔyɛɛ wɔ Adar ɔsram no (bɛyɛ Ɔbɛnem) da a ɛto so ason no wɔ amantam no nyinaa mu. Ade kyee no, wɔhomee, didii, gyee wɔn ani wɔ wɔn nkonimdi no ho.
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 Nanso Yudafo a wɔwɔ Susa no toaa so kunkum wɔn atamfo no da a ɛto so abien no nso, na wɔhomee ne nnansa so de didii, gyee wɔn ani.
(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 Enti ebesi nnɛ yi, Yudafo a wɔtete nkuraa a wɔntoo afasu mfaa ho no di saa afirihyia dapɔnna yi. Wodi afoofi saa awɔwbere da yi mu, sɛpɛw wɔn ho, de akyɛde mema wɔn ho wɔn ho.
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 Mordekai kyerɛw saa nsɛm a esisii yi nyinaa, na wɔde nkrataa kɔmaa Yudafo a wɔbɛn ne wɔn a wɔwɔ akyiri wɔ ɔhene no amantam nyinaa mu,
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 hyɛɛ wɔn nkuran sɛ, wonni afirihyia afahyɛ yi wɔ saa nnaanu no mu.
He told them to keep the fourteenth day of the month of Adar and also the fifteenth day every year,
22 Ɔka kyerɛɛ wɔn se wɔnhyɛ saa nna no ho fa a adidi ne ɔnom ka ho, na wɔmma wɔn ho wɔn ho ne ahiafo akyɛde. Eyi bɛma Yudafo no akae bere a wonyaa ogye fii wɔn atamfo nsam, wɔn awerɛhow dan anigye, na wɔn su bɛyɛɛ ahosɛpɛw no.
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 Enti Yudafo no faa Mordekai adwenkyerɛ no, fii afirihyia amanne no ase.
So what the Jews had begun to do they adopted as a custom, just as Mordecai had written to them.
24 Efisɛ na Haman a ɔyɛ Agagni Hamedata babarima, a ɔyɛ Yudafo tamfo no apam sɛ ɔbɛyam wɔn, asɛe wɔn saa da no ne ɔsram a ɔnam ntontobɔ so nyae no. (Na wɔfrɛ saa ntonto no Purim).
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 Nanso Ɛster baa ɔhene anim no, ɔhyɛɛ mmara, nam so maa Haman adwemmɔne no bɔɔ ne ti so, na wɔsɛn no ne ne mmabarima wɔ nnua so.
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 (Ɛno nti na wɔfrɛ saa afahyɛ no Purim no, efisɛ ɛyɛ tete kasa a ne nkyerɛase ne ntontobɔ.) Esiane Mordekai krataa no ne osuahu a wɔanya no nti,
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 Yudafo a wɔwɔ ahemman no mu no nyinaa penee so sɛ, wɔbɛhyɛ saa amanne no ho fa, na wɔama wɔn awo ntoatoaso ne wɔn a wɔbɛyɛ Yudafo no nyinaa abɛhyɛ bi. Wɔn nyinaa gye too mu sɛ, saa nnaanu a wɔayi ato hɔ sɛ wɔnhyɛ fa no wɔ afe biara mu no, wɔremma ɛmpa wɔn ti so da.
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 Wɔbɛkae saa nna yi wɔ awo ntoatoaso nyinaa mu na ɛsɛ sɛ abusua biara a ɛwɔ amantam ne nkuropɔn wɔ ahemman no mu no di. Wɔrennyae saa nna yi di wɔ Yudafo mu, na nsɛm a esii no nso wɔn asefo werɛ remfi da.
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 Na Ɔhemmea Ɛster, Abihail babea no ne Yudani Mordekai kyerɛw krataa foforo a wɔde ɔhemmea no tumi kɛse foaa krataa no so de hyɛɛ Purim afahyɛ no mu den.
Queen Esther, the daughter of Abihail, gave Mordecai the Jew all authority in writing to confirm this second letter of Purim.
30 Ɛno akyi no, wɔsoma ma wɔde nkrataa a wɔde bɛma asomdwoe ne bammɔ aba, kɔɔ Yudafo a wɔwɔ amantam ɔha ne aduonu ason no a ɛwɔ Ahasweros ahemman mu no nyinaa so.
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 Saa nkrataa yi ma Purim Afahyɛ a ɛyɛ afirihyiade a wodi no nnɛ yi ara no timii. Yudani Mordekai ne Ɔhemmea Ɛster na wɔhyɛɛ mmara no. (Nnipa no yɛɛ wɔn adwene sɛ wɔbɛhyɛ saa fa yi, sɛnea wɔasi no gyinae ama wɔn ho ne wɔn asefo no, de ama mmuadadi ne agyaadwotwa mmere no atim.)
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 Enti Ɛster mmara no sii Purim ho nhyehyɛe so dua, na wɔkyerɛw ne nyinaa guu nhoma mu.
And the commands of Esther confirmed these matters of Purim; and it was written in the records.
