Esther 9

1In the twelfth month, that is, the month Adar, on the thirteenth day of it, when the king’s word and his decree were to be carried out, on the day when the enemies of the Jews had hoped to rule over them, the opposite happened: the Jews themselves ruled over those who hated them.

2The Jews assembled in their cities throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus to lay hands on those seeking their harm, and no one could stand before them, because the fear of them had fallen on all the peoples.

3And all the officials of the provinces, the satraps, the governors, and those doing the king’s work were supporting the Jews, because the fear of Mordecai had fallen on them.

4For Mordecai was great in the king’s house, and the report about him was spreading through all the provinces, for the man Mordecai was becoming greater and greater.

5So the Jews struck all their enemies with the stroke of the sword, and with slaughter and destruction, and they did to those who hated them as they pleased.

6And in Susa the citadel, the Jews killed and destroyed five hundred men.

7Parshandatha, Dalphon, and Aspatha,

8and Poratha, and Adalia, and Aridatha.

9Parmashtha, Arisai, Aridai, and Vaizatha,

10the ten sons of Haman son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews, they killed; but they did not lay a hand on the plunder.

11On that day the number of those killed in Susa the citadel came before the king.

12Then the king said to Esther the queen, “In Susa the citadel the Jews have killed and destroyed five hundred men, along with 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. And what is your further request? It will be done.”

13Esther said, “If it pleases the king, let it be granted to the Jews who are in Susa to do tomorrow also according to today’s decree, and let Haman’s ten sons be hanged on the gallows.”

14So the king said that it should be done so. A decree was issued in Susa, and the ten sons of Haman were hanged.

15The Jews who were in Susa also assembled on the fourteenth day of the month of Adar, and they killed three hundred men in Susa; but they did not lay a hand on the plunder.

16And the rest of the Jews who were in the king’s provinces gathered themselves together and stood for their lives, and had relief from their enemies, and killed seventy-five thousand of those who hated them; but they did not lay a hand on the plunder.

17on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar, and resting on the fourteenth day of it, and making it a day of feasting and gladness.

18But the Jews who were in Susa assembled on the thirteenth day of it and on the fourteenth day of it, and rested on the fifteenth day of it, and made it a day of feasting and gladness.

19Therefore the Jews of the villages, who live in the rural towns, make the fourteenth day of the month of Adar a day of gladness and feasting and a holiday, and of sending portions, each man to his neighbor.

20Then Mordecai wrote these things and sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far.

21to establish among them that they should observe the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and the fifteenth day of it, year after year,

22as the days on which the Jews had rest from their enemies, and as the month that had been turned for them from sorrow to gladness and from mourning to a good day, to make them days of feasting and gladness, and of sending portions, each man to his neighbor, and gifts to the poor.

23So the Jews accepted what they had begun to do, and what Mordecai had written to them.

24For Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had plotted against the Jews to destroy them, and had cast Pur—that is, the lot—to crush them and to destroy them.

25But when she came before the king, he commanded by letter that his evil scheme which he had devised against the Jews should return on his own head, and they hanged him and his sons on the gallows.

26Therefore they called these days Purim, after the name of Pur. Therefore, because of all the words of this letter, and what they had seen concerning this matter, and what had happened to them,

27the Jews established and accepted for themselves, for their offspring, and for all who joined them, that it should not fail: to observe these two days according to what was written for them and at their appointed time, year after year.

28And these days are remembered and observed in every generation, every family, every province, and every city; and these days of Purim shall not pass away from among the Jews, and their remembrance shall not cease from their offspring.

29Then Esther the queen, daughter of Abihail, and Mordecai the Jew wrote with full authority to confirm this second letter of Purim.

30And he sent letters to all the Jews in the one hundred twenty-seven provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, words of peace and truth,

31to establish these days of Purim at their appointed times, just as Mordecai the Jew and Esther the queen had established for them, and just as they had established for themselves and for their offspring the matters of the fasts and their cry.

32And Esther’s command confirmed these matters of Purim, and it was written in the book.