9:1 On the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar, the edict commanded by the king was to be carried out. On this day the enemies of the Jews had hoped to overpower them, but now the tables were turned and the Jews got the upper hand over those who hated them.
9:2 The Jews assembled in their cities in all the provinces of King Xerxes to attack those seeking their destruction. No one could stand against them, because the people of all the other nationalities were afraid of them.
9:3 And all the nobles of the provinces, the satraps, the governors and the king’s administrators helped the Jews, because fear of Mordecai had seized them.
9:4 Mordecai was prominent in the palace; his reputation spread throughout the provinces, and he became more and more powerful.
9:5 The Jews struck down all their enemies with the sword, killing and destroying them, and they did what they pleased to those who hated them.
9:6 In the citadel of Susa, the Jews killed and destroyed five hundred men.
9:7 They also killed Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha,
9:8 Poratha, Adalia, Aridatha,
9:9 Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai and Vaizatha,
9:10 the ten sons of Haman son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews. But they did not lay their hands on the plunder.
9:11 The number of those slain in the citadel of Susa was reported to the king that same day.
9:12 The king said to Queen Esther, “The Jews have killed and destroyed five hundred men and the ten sons of Haman in the citadel of Susa. What have they done in the rest of the king’s provinces? Now what is your petition? It will be given you. What is your request? It will also be granted.”
9:13 “If it pleases the king,” Esther answered, “give the Jews in Susa permission to carry out this day’s edict tomorrow also, and let Haman’s ten sons be hanged on gallows.”
9:14 So the king commanded that this be done. An edict was issued in Susa, and they hanged the ten sons of Haman.
9:15 The Jews in Susa came together on the fourteenth day of the month of Adar, and they put to death in Susa three hundred men, but they did not lay their hands on the plunder.
9:16 Meanwhile, the remainder of the Jews who were in the king’s provinces also assembled to protect themselves and get relief from their enemies. They killed seventy-five thousand of them but did not lay their hands on the plunder.
9:17 This happened on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar, and on the fourteenth they rested and made it a day of feasting and joy.
9:18 The Jews in Susa, however, had assembled on the thirteenth and fourteenth, and then on the fifteenth they rested and made it a day of feasting and joy.
9:19 That is why rural Jews–those living in villages–observe the fourteenth of the month of Adar as a day of joy and feasting, a day for giving presents to each other.
9:20 Mordecai recorded these events, and he sent letters to all the Jews throughout the provinces of King Xerxes, near and far,
9:21 to have them celebrate annually the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month of Adar
9:22 as the time when the Jews got relief from their enemies, and as the month when their sorrow was turned into joy and their mourning into a day of celebration. He wrote them to observe the days as days of feasting and joy and giving presents of food to one another and gifts to the poor.
9:23 So the Jews agreed to continue the celebration they had begun, doing what Mordecai had written to them.
9:24 For Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had plotted against the Jews to destroy them and had cast the pur (that is, the lot) for their ruin and destruction.
9:25 But when the plot came to the king’s attention, he issued written orders that the evil scheme Haman had devised against the Jews should come back onto his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows.
9:26 (Therefore these days were called Purim, from the word pur .) Because of everything written in this letter and because of what they had seen and what had happened to them,
9:27 the Jews took it upon themselves to establish the custom that they and their descendants and all who join them should without fail observe these two days every year, in the way prescribed and at the time appointed.
9:28 These days should be remembered and observed in every generation by every family, and in every province and in every city. And these days of Purim should never cease to be celebrated by the Jews, nor should the memory of them die out among their descendants.
9:29 So Queen Esther, daughter of Abihail, along with Mordecai the Jew, wrote with full authority to confirm this second letter concerning Purim.
9:30 And Mordecai sent letters to all the Jews in the 127 provinces of the kingdom of Xerxes–words of goodwill and assurance–
9:31 to establish these days of Purim at their designated times, as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther had decreed for them, and as they had established for themselves and their descendants in regard to their times of fasting and lamentation.
9:32 Esther’s decree confirmed these regulations about Purim, and it was written down in the records.
9:1 Now in the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, on the thirteenth day of the month, when the king’s commandment and his decree were about to be executed, on the day that the Jews’ enemies hoped to rule over them (but it turned out to the contrary, so that the Jews had rule over them that hated them),
9:2 The Jews assembled in their cities throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus to lay hand on those who sought their harm. And no one could withstand them, for the fear of them had fallen upon all the peoples.
9:3 And all the princes of the provinces and the satraps and the governors and those who did the king’s business helped the Jews, because the fear of Mordecai had fallen upon them.
9:4 For Mordecai was great in the king’s house, and his fame went forth throughout all the provinces; for the man Mordecai became greater and greater.
9:5 And the Jews struck all their enemies with the stroke of the sword and with slaughter and destruction, and they did as it pleased them to those who hated them.
9:6 And in Susa the capital the Jews slew and destroyed five hundred men.
9:7 And Parshandatha and Dalphon and Aspatha
9:8 And Poratha and Adalia and Aridatha
9:9 And Parmashta and Arisai and Aridai and Vaizatha,
9:10 The ten sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Jew’s enemy, they slew; but they did not lay their hand on the spoil.
9:11 On that day the number of those who were slain in Susa the capital was brought before the king.
9:12 And the king said to Esther the queen, The Jews have slain and destroyed five hundred men in Susa the capital as well as 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 to you. Or what is your further request? And it shall be done.
9:13 Then Esther said, If it please the king, let it be granted to the Jews who are in Susa to do tomorrow also according to this day’s decree, and let Haman’s ten sons be hanged upon the gallows.
9:14 And the king commanded it to be so done; and a decree was issued in Susa, and they hanged Haman’s ten sons.
9:15 And the Jews who were in Susa assembled also on the fourteenth day of the month Adar and slew three hundred men in Susa, but they did not lay their hand on the spoil.
9:16 And the rest of the Jews who were in the king’s provinces assembled and stood for their lives, and they had rest from their enemies. And they slew seventy-five thousand of those who hated them; but they did not lay their hand on the spoil.
9:17 This happened 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 rejoicing.
9:18 But the Jews who were in Susa assembled on the thirteenth day of the month and on the fourteenth of the month; and on the fifteenth day of the same they rested and made it a day of feasting and rejoicing.
9:19 Therefore the Jews of the villages, who dwell in towns in the open, make the fourteenth day of the month Adar a day of rejoicing and feasting, and a good day, and a day of sending portions to one another.
9:20 And Mordecai wrote these things down, and he sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far,
9:21 Enjoining them that they should keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar and the fifteenth day of the same, year by year,
9:22 As the days on which the Jews had rest from their enemies, and as the month which was turned for them from sorrow to rejoicing and from mourning into a good day; that they should make them days of feasting and rejoicing, and of sending portions to one another and gifts to the poor.
9:23 And the Jews undertook what they had begun to do and what Mordecai had written to them to do.
9:24 For 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 vex them and destroy them;
9:25 But when Esther came before the king, he commanded by letter that his wicked plot, which he had plotted against the Jews, should return upon his own head and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows.
9:26 Therefore they called these days Purim, after the name of Pur. Therefore because of all the words of this letter and what they had seen in this regard and what had happened to them,
9:27 The Jews established and made a custom for themselves and their seed and all who joined themselves to them, that they would not fail to keep these two days according to what has been written about them and according to the appointed time for them, year by year;
9:28 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 fade from their seed.
9:29 Then Esther the queen, the daughter of Abihail, and Mordecai the Jew wrote with all authority to confirm this second letter of Purim.
9:30 And he sent letters to all the Jews, to the one hundred twenty-seven provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, that is, words of peace and truth,
9:31 Establishing these days of Purim at their appointed times, as Mordecai the Jew and Esther the queen had established for them and as they had established for themselves and for their seed in the matter of the fastings and their cry.
9:32 And the commandment of Esther confirmed these matters of Purim; and it was written in the book.