Esth 9
1
Now in the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, on the thirteenth day of the same,
when the king`s commandment and his decree drew near to be put in execution, on the
day that the enemies of the Jews hoped to have rule over them, (whereas it was turned
to the contrary, that the Jews had rule over them that hated them,)
2
the Jews gathered themselves together in their cities throughout all the provinces
of the king Ahasuerus, to lay hand on such as sought their hurt: and no man could
withstand them; for the fear of them was fallen upon all the peoples.
3
And all the princes of the provinces, and the satraps, and the governors, and they
that did the king`s business, helped the Jews; because the fear of Mordecai was fallen
upon them.
4
For Mordecai was great in the king`s house, and his fame went forth throughout all
the provinces; for the man Mordecai waxed greater and greater.
5
And the Jews smote all their enemies with the stroke of the sword, and with slaughter
and destruction, and did what they would to them that hated them.
6
And in Shushan the palace the Jews slew and destroyed five hundred men.
7
And Parshandatha, and Dalphon, and Aspatha,
8
and Poratha, and Adalia, and Aridatha,
9
and Parmashta, and Arisai, and Aridai, and Vaizatha,
10
the ten sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Jew`s enemy, slew they; but on the
spoil they laid not their hand.
11
On that day the number of those that were slain in Shushan the palace was brought
before the king.
12
And the king said to Esther the queen, The Jews have slain and destroyed five hundred
men in Shushan the palace, and the ten sons of Haman; what then have they done in
the rest of the king`s provinces! Now what is your petition? and it shall be granted
you: or what is your request further? and it shall be done.
13
Then said Esther, If it please the king, let it be granted to the Jews that are in
Shushan to do to-morrow also according to this day`s decree, and let Haman`s ten sons
be hanged upon the gallows.
14
And the king commanded it so to be done: and a decree was given out in Shushan; and
they hanged Haman`s ten sons.
15
And the Jews that were in Shushan gathered themselves together on the fourteenth day
also of the month Adar, and slew three hundred men in Shushan; but on the spoil they
laid not their hand.
16
And the other Jews that were in the king`s provinces gathered themselves together,
and stood for their lives, and had rest from their enemies, and slew of them that
hated them seventy and five thousand; but on the spoil they laid not their hand.
17
[This was done] 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.
18
But the Jews that were in Shushan assembled together on the thirteenth [day] thereof,
and on its fourteenth; and on the fifteenth [day] of the same they rested,
and made it a day of feasting and gladness.
19
Therefore do the Jews of the villages, that dwell in the unwalled towns, make the
fourteenth day of the month Adar [a day of] gladness and feasting, and a good day,
and of sending portions one to another.
20
And Mordecai wrote these things, and sent letters to all the Jews that were in all
the provinces of the king Ahasuerus, both nigh and far,
21
to enjoin them that they should keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and the
fifteenth day of the same, yearly,
22
as the days wherein the Jews had rest from their enemies, and the month which was
turned to them from sorrow to gladness, and from mourning into a good day; that they
should make them days of feasting and gladness, and of sending portions one to another,
and gifts to the poor.
23
And the Jews undertook to do as they had begun, and as Mordecai had written to them;
24
because Haman the 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 consume them,
and to destroy them;
25
but when [the matter] came before the king, he commanded by letters that his wicked
device, 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.
26
Wherefore they called these days Purim, after the name of Pur. Therefore because of
all the words of this letter, and of that which they had seen concerning this matter,
and that which had come to them,
27
the Jews ordained, and took upon them, and upon their seed, and upon all such as joined
themselves to them, so that it should not fail, that they would keep these two days
according to its writing, and according to the appointed time thereof, every
year;
28
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, nor the remembrance of them perish from their seed.
29
Then Esther the queen, the daughter of Abihail, and Mordecai the Jew, wrote with all
authority to confirm this second letter of Purim.
30
And he sent letters to all the Jews, to the hundred twenty and seven provinces of
the kingdom of Ahasuerus, [with] words of peace and truth,
31
to confirm these days of Purim in their appointed times, according as Mordecai the
Jew and Esther the queen had enjoined them, and as they had ordained for themselves
and for their seed, in the matter of the fastings and their cry.
32
And the commandment of Esther confirmed these matters of Purim; and it was written
in the book.