Esther 9:1-32
9 * And in the twelfth month (that is, the month of Adar), on the thirteenth day of it, when the king’s word and law were to take effect, on the day when the Jews’ enemies had depended on having them at their mercy it was upset so that the Jews had their haters at their mercy.
2 The Jews assembled in their cities in all King Xerxes’ provinces to lay hands on those who meant harm to them, and not a man stood his ground before them, because the dread of them had fallen on all the peoples;
3 and all the princes of the provinces and the satraps and the governors and the king’s administrators backed up the Jews because the dread of Mordocai had fallen on them;
4 for Mordocai was a great man in the king’s house, and talk of him was going through all the provinces because the man Mordocai was growing greater and greater.
5 * And the Jews dealt death among all their enemies, cutting down and killing and destroying, and did as they pleased with those who hated them.
6 And in Susa Citadel the Jews killed and destroyed five hundred men;
7 and they killed Parshandatha and Dalphon and Aspatha
8 and Poratha and Adalja and Aridatha
9 and Parmashatta and Arisai and Aridai and Vaizatha,
10 the ten sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Jews’ assailant; but they did not lay hands on the plunder.
11 On that day the number of the killed in Susa Citadel came in before the king,
12 and the king said to Queen Esther “In Susa Citadel the Jews have killed and destroyed five hundred men, and Haman’s ten sons; in the remainder of the king’s provinces what will they have done? And what is it you ask for? it shall be given to you; and what else is the boon you want? it shall be done.”
13 And Esther said “If the king thinks best, let it be granted to the Jews in Susa tomorrow also to do as was the law today; and let them hang Haman’s ten sons up on the stake.”
14 And the king ordered it so done; and it was promulgated as law in Susa, and they hung up Haman’s ten sons,
15 and the Jews in Susa assembled on the fourteenth day of the month of Adar also and killed three hundred men in Susa, but did not lay hands on the plunder.
16 ** And the remainder of the Jews in the king’s provinces assembled and made a stand for their lives and had rest from their enemies and killed among those who hated them seventy-five thousand, but did not lay hands on the plunder,
17 on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar, and rested on the fourteenth of it and kept it as a day of banqueting and merrymaking.
18 But the Jews in Susa assembled on the thirteenth and fourteenth of it, and rested on the fifteenth of it and kept it as a day of banqueting and merrymaking.
19 * That is why the country Jews, those who live in the rural cities, keep the fourteenth day of the month of Adar with merrymaking and banqueting and holiday-making and sending helpings to each other.
20 And Mordocai wrote this matter down and sent writs to all the Jews in all King Xerxes’ provinces, near and far,
21 engaging them to keep the fourteenth day of the month of Adar and the fifteenth of it in each and every year,
22 corresponding to the days on which the Jews came to rest from their enemies and the month which was reversed for them from sorrow to gladness and from mourning to holiday-making, to keep them as days of banqueting and merrymaking and sending helpings to each other and gifts to the needy;
23 and the Jews agreed to what they had begun to do and what Mordocai wrote to them.
24 For Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the assailant of all the Jews, had schemed against the Jews to destroy them and had cast pur (that is, the lot) for confounding them and destroying them;
25 *** but when it came before the king he said, with the book, “Let his evil scheme that he contrived against the Jews come back on his own head, and let them impale him and his sons on the stake.”
26 * (That is why they call these days Purim, from the name of the pur.) For these reasons, because of all the words of this letter and what they had seen of such things and what had come to themselves,
27 * the Jews engaged and agreed for themselves and their descendants and for all who should join them, permanently, to keep these two days in accordance with the prescription for them and at the time for them in each and every year. And these days are to be commemorated and kept in each and every generation, in each and every clan, in each and every province, and in each and every year;
28 and these Purim days are never to pass away from the midst of the Jews, and their commemoration is never to come to an end out of their descendants.
29 And Queen Esther the daughter of Abihail, and Mordocai the Jew, wrote with all emphasis to enact this second letter of Purim;
30 and he sent writs to a hundred and twenty-seven provinces, Xerxes’ empire, to all the Jews: words of peace and good faith,
31 to enact these Purim days at the times for them, as Mordocai the Jew and Queen Esther had enacted and as they had engaged for themselves and their descendants, the matters of fastings and their crying out.
32 And Esther’s behest ratified these matters of the Purim; and it was put in writing.
Footnotes
^ 9:1 (were to take effect) Lit. arrived to be done
^ 9:5 Lit struck among all their enemies a sword-striking and killing and destroying
^ 9:16 Conj. and took vengeance on their enemies
^ 9:16 Var. fifteen thousand
^ 9:19 Var. adds at the end of this verse but those who live in the principal cities also keep the fifteenth of Adar as a merry holiday, sending helpings to each other
^ 9:25 (first part) Susp., unc.
^ 9:25 Or she came
^ 9:25 Or with the writ
^ 9:26 Susp.
^ 9:27 (permanently) Lit. and not to pass away
