Now in the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar, on the
thirteenth day of the same, when the king's command and edict were
about to be carried out, on the very day when the enemies of the
Jews hoped to gain the mastery over them, the reverse occurred: the
Jews gained mastery over those who hated them. The Jews gathered in
their cities throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus to lay
hands on those who sought their harm. And no one could stand
against them, for the fear of them had fallen on all peoples. All
the officials of the provinces and the satraps and the governors
and the royal agents also helped the Jews, for the fear of Mordecai
had fallen on them. For Mordecai was great in the king's house, and
his fame spread throughout all the provinces, for the man Mordecai
grew more and more powerful. The Jews struck all their enemies with
the sword, killing and destroying them, and did as they pleased to
those who hated them. In Susa the citadel itself the Jews killed
and destroyed 500 men, and also killed Parshandatha and Dalphon and
Aspatha and Poratha and Adalia and Aridatha and Parmashta and
Arisai and Aridai and Vaizatha, the ten sons of Haman the son of
Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews, but they laid no hand on the
plunder.
That very day the number of those killed in Susa the citadel was
reported to the king. And the king said to Queen Esther, “In Susa
the citadel the Jews have killed and destroyed 500 men and also the
ten sons of Haman. What then have they done in the rest of the
king's provinces! Now what is your wish? It shall be granted you.
And what further is your request? It shall be fulfilled.” And
Esther said, “If it please the king, let the Jews who are in Susa
be allowed tomorrow also to do according to this day's edict. And
let the ten sons of Haman be hanged on the gallows.” So the king
commanded this to be done. A decree was issued in Susa, and the ten
sons of Haman were hanged. The Jews who were in Susa gathered also
on the fourteenth day of the month of Adar and they killed 300 men
in Susa, but they laid no hands on the plunder.
Now the rest of the Jews who were in the king's provinces also
gathered to defend their lives, and got relief from their enemies
and killed 75,000 of those who hated them, but they laid no hands
on the plunder. This was on the thirteenth day of the month of
Adar, and on the fourteenth day they rested and made that a day of
feasting and gladness. But the Jews who were in Susa gathered on
the thirteenth day and on the fourteenth, and rested on the
fifteenth day, making that a day of feasting and gladness.
Therefore the Jews of the villages, who live in the rural towns,
hold the fourteenth day of the month of Adar as a day for gladness
and feasting, as a holiday, and as a day on which they send gifts
of food to one another.
And Mordecai recorded these things and sent letters to all the
Jews who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and
far, obliging them to keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar and
also the fifteenth day of the same, year by year, as the days on
which the Jews got relief from their enemies, and as the month that
had been turned for them from sorrow into gladness and from
mourning into a holiday; that they should make them days of
feasting and gladness, days for sending gifts of food to one
another and gifts to the poor.
So the Jews accepted what they had started to do, and what
Mordecai had written to them. For Haman the Agagite, the son of
Hammedatha, the enemy of all the Jews, had plotted against the Jews
to destroy them, and had cast Pur (that is, cast lots), to crush
and to destroy them. But when it came before the king, he gave
orders in writing that his evil plan that he had devised against
the Jews should return on his own head, and that he and his sons
should be hanged on the gallows. Therefore they called these days
Purim, after the term Pur. Therefore, because of all that was
written in this letter, and of what they had faced in this matter,
and of what had happened to them, the Jews firmly obligated
themselves and their offspring and all who joined them, that
without fail they would keep these two days according to what was
written and at the time appointed every year, that these days
should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, in every
clan, province, and city, and that these days of Purim should never
fall into disuse among the Jews, nor should the commemoration of
these days cease among their descendants.
Then Queen Esther, the daughter of Abihail, and Mordecai the Jew
gave full written authority, confirming this second letter about
Purim. Letters were sent to all the Jews, to the 127 provinces of
the kingdom of Ahasuerus, in words of peace and truth, that these
days of Purim should be observed at their appointed seasons, as
Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther obligated them, and as they had
obligated themselves and their offspring, with regard to their
fasts and their lamenting. The command of Esther confirmed these
practices of Purim, and it was recorded in writing.
