Esther 9 · אסתר

Now in the twelfth month, that is, the month Adar, on the thirteenth day of the same, when the king’s commandment and his decree drew near to be put into execution, on the day that the enemies of the Jews hoped to have power over them, (though it was turned to the contrary, that the Jews had rule over those who hated them;)

the Jews gathered themselves together in their cities throughout all the provinces of the king Aĥashverosh, to lay hands on such as sought their hurt: and no man could withstand them; for the fear of them fell upon all the peoples.

And all the rulers of the provinces, and the satraps, and the governors, and the royal officials, supported the Jews; because the fear of Mordokhay had fallen upon them.

For Mordokhay was great in the king’s house, and his fame went out throughout all the provinces: for the man Mordokhay grew greater and greater.

Thus the Jews smote all their enemies with the stroke of the sword, and with slaughter, and destruction, and did as they pleased to those who hated them.

And in Shushan the capital the Jews slew and destroyed five hundred men,

and they also slew Parshandata, and Dalfon, and Aspata,

and Porata, and Adalya, and Aridata,

and Parmashta, and Arisay, and Ariday, and Vayzata,

the ten sons of Haman the son of Hammedata, the enemy of the Jews; but they did not lay their hands on the plunder.

On that day the number of those who were slain in Shushan the capital was brought before the king.

And the king said to Ester the queen, The Jews have slain and destroyed five hundred men in Shushan the capital, and also the ten sons of Haman; what have they done in the rest of the king’s provinces? now what is thy petition? and it shall be granted thee: and what more dost thou request? and it shall be done.

Then Ester said, If it please the king, let it be granted to the Jews who are in Shushan to do tomorrow also according to this day’s decree, and let Haman’s ten sons be hanged upon the gallows.

And the king commanded it so to be done: and the decree was given at Shushan; and they hanged Haman’s ten sons.

For the Jews who were in Shushan gathered themselves together also on the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and slew three hundred men at Shushan; but they did not lay their hands on the plunder.

But the other Jews who were in the king’s provinces gathered themselves together, and stood up for themselves, and had rest from their enemies, and slew of their foes seventy five thousand, (but they did not lay their hands on the plunder,)

on the thirteenth day of the month Adar; and on the fourteenth day of the same they rested, and made it a day of feasting and gladness.

But the Jews who were at Shushan gathered together on the thirteenth of the month, and on the fourteenth of it; and on the fifteenth day of the same they rested, and made it a day of feasting and gladness.

Therefore the Jews of the villages, who dwell in the unwalled towns, make the fourteenth day of the month Adar a day of gladness and feasting, and holiday, and of sending choice portions to one another.

And Mordokhay wrote these things, and sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of the king Aĥashverosh, both near and far,

to enjoin upon them that they should keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and the fifteenth day of the same, year by year,

as the days on which the Jews rested from their enemies, and the month which was turned to them from sorrow to joy, and from mourning to holiday: that they should make them days of feasting and joy, and of sending choice portions to one another, and gifts to the poor.

And the Jews undertook to do as they had begun, and as Mordokhay had written to them;

because Haman the son of Hammedata, the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had schemed against the Jews to destroy them, and had cast Pur, (that is, the lot,) to consume them, and to destroy them;

but when Ester came before the king, he gave orders in writing that his wicked scheme, which he had devised against the Jews, should return upon his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows.

Therefore they called these days Purim after the name of Pur. Therefore because of all the words of this letter, and of what they had seen concerning this matter, and what had befallen them,

the Jews ordained, and took upon them, and upon their seed, and upon all who joined themselves to them, that they should unfailingly keep these two days according to their writing, and according to their appointed time every year;

and that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, every family, every province, and every city; and that these days of Purim should not fail from among the Jews, or the memorial of them perish from their seed.

Then Ester the queen, the daughter of Aviĥayil, and Mordokhay the Jew, wrote with all emphasis, to confirm this second letter of Purim.

And he sent letters to all the Jews, to the hundred and twenty seven provinces of the kingdom of Aĥashverosh, in words of peace and truth,

to confirm these days of Purim in their times appointed, according as Mordokhay the Jew and Ester the queen had enjoined on them, and as they had decreed for themselves and for their seed, with regard to the fastings and the order of lamentation.

And the decree of Ester confirmed these matters of Purim; and it was written in the book.