[1] 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
executed, on the very day when the enemies of the Jews hoped to get the
mastery over them, but which had been changed to a day when the Jews should
get the mastery over their foes, [2] the Jews gathered in their cities
throughout all the provinces of King Ahasu-e'rus to lay hands on such as
sought their hurt. And no one could make a stand against them, for the fear
of them had fallen upon all peoples. [3] All the princes of the provinces
and the satraps and the governors and the royal officials also helped the
Jews, for the fear of Mor'decai had fallen upon them. [4] For Mor'decai was
great in the king's house, and his fame spread throughout all the
provinces; for the man Mor'decai grew more and more powerful. [5] So the
Jews smote all their enemies with the sword, slaughtering, and destroying
them, and did as they pleased to those who hated them. [6] In Susa the
capital itself the Jews slew and destroyed five hundred men, [7] and also
slew Par-shan-da'tha and Dalphon and Aspa'tha [8] and Pora'tha and Ada'lia
and Arida'tha [9] and Parmash'ta and Ar'isai and Ar'idai and Vaiza'tha,
[10] the ten sons of Haman the son of Hammeda'tha, the enemy of the Jews;
but they laid no hand on the plunder. [11] That very day the number of
those slain in Susa the capital was reported to the king. [12] And the king
said to Queen Esther, "In Susa the capital the Jews have slain five hundred
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 petition? It shall be granted you.
And what further is your request? It shall be fulfilled." [13] 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." [14] So the king commanded this to be
done; a decree was issued in Susa, and the ten sons of Haman were hanged.
[15] The Jews who were in Susa gathered also on the fourteenth day of the
month of Adar and they slew three hundred men in Susa; but they laid no
hands on the plunder. [16] Now the other Jews who were in the king's
provinces also gathered to defend their lives, and got relief from their
enemies, and slew seventy-five thousand of those who hated them; but they
laid no hands on the plunder. [17] 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. [18] 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. [19] Therefore the Jews of the
villages, who live in the open towns, hold the fourteenth day of the month
of Adar as a day for gladness and feasting and holiday-making, and a day on
which they send choice portions to one another. [20] And Mor'decai recorded
these things, and sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the
provinces of King Ahasu-e'rus, both near and far, [21] enjoining them that
they should keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar and also the
fifteenth day of the same, year by year, [22] 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 choice
portions to one another and gifts to the poor. [23] So the Jews undertook
to do as they had begun, and as Mor'decai had written to them. [24] For
Haman the Ag'agite, the son of Hammeda'tha, the enemy of all the Jews, had
plotted against the Jews to destroy them, and had cast Pur, that is the
lot, to crush and destroy them; [25] but when Esther came before the king,
he gave orders in writing that his wicked plot which he had devised against
the Jews should come upon his own head, and that he and his sons should be
hanged on the gallows. [26] Therefore they called these days Purim, after
the term Pur. And therefore, because of all that was written in this
letter, and of what they had faced in this matter, and of what had befallen
them, [27] the Jews ordained and took it upon themselves and their
descendants 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, [28] that these days should be remembered and kept throughout
every generation, in every family, 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. [29] Then Queen
Esther, the daughter of Ab'ihail, and Mor'decai the Jew gave full written
authority, confirming this second letter about Purim. [30] Letters were
sent to all the Jews, to the hundred and twenty-seven provinces of the
kingdom of Ahasu-e'rus, in words of peace and truth, [31] that these days
of Purim should be observed at their appointed seasons, as Mor'decai the
Jew and Queen Esther enjoined upon the Jews, and as they had laid down for
themselves and for their descendants, with regard to their fasts and their
lamenting. [32] The command of Queen Esther fixed these practices of Purim,
and it was recorded in writing.
