Esther 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 performed, that day the enemies of the Jews hoped to have power over them; but the Jews gathered themselves together in their cities throughout all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus, to lay hands on those who sought their hurt. ² And the Jews struck all their enemies with the sword, killing and destroying them; and they did what they would to those who hated them.

³ And in Shushan the palace the Jews killed and destroyed five hundred men. ⁴ But they laid not their hands on the spoil.

⁵ Now on the fourteenth day of the month Adar, the Jews gathered themselves together in Shushan, and slew three hundred men at Shushan; but they laid not their hands on the spoil. ⁶ On that day the number of those killed in Shushan the palace was reported to the king. ⁷ Then the king said to Esther the queen, “The Jews have slain and destroyed five hundred men in Shushan, and the ten sons of Haman; what have they done in the rest of the king’s provinces? Now what is your petition? It shall be granted you; or what is your request? Even to the half of the kingdom, it shall be performed.”

⁸ Then Esther said, “If it pleases the king, let the Jews who are in Shushan be allowed to do tomorrow also according to today’s decree; and let the ten sons of Haman be hanged upon the gallows.”

⁹ So the king commanded it to be done. The decree was also issued in Shushan, and they hanged the ten sons of Haman. ¹⁰ And the Jews who were in Shushan gathered themselves together on the fourteenth day of the month, and slew three hundred men; but they laid not their hands on the spoil.

¹¹ And the rest of the Jews who were in the king’s provinces gathered themselves together, and stood for their lives, and had rest from their enemies, and slew seventy-five thousand of those who hated them; but they laid not their hands on the spoil. ¹² This was on the thirteenth day of the month Adar, and they rested on the fourteenth day of the same, and made it a day of feasting and gladness.

¹³ But the Jews who were in Shushan gathered themselves together on the thirteenth day, and on the fourteenth day of the month they rested, and made it a day of feasting and gladness.

¹⁴ Therefore 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.

¹⁵ And Mordecai wrote these things, and sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far, ¹⁶ to establish among them that they should keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and the fifteenth day of the same, yearly, ¹⁷ as the days wherein the Jews rested from their enemies, and the month which was turned unto them from sorrow to joy, and from mourning into a good day; that they should make them days of feasting and joy, and of sending portions one to another, and gifts to the poor.

¹⁸ So the Jews accepted the custom which they had begun, and which Mordecai had written to them.

¹⁹ 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 consume them, and to destroy them. ²⁰ But when Esther 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. ²¹ Therefore they called these days Purim, after the name of Pur; and because of all the words of this letter, and of that which they had seen concerning them, and what had happened to them.

²² These days of Purim were remembered, and kept throughout every generation, every family, every province, and every city; and these days of Purim were not forgotten among the Jews, nor their memorial ceased.

²³ And Mordecai wrote these things, and sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, near and far, to establish among them that they should keep the fourteenth and the fifteenth days of the month Adar yearly,

²⁴ as the days in which the Jews had rest from their enemies, and as the month that was turned from sorrow to joy, and from mourning into a good day; that they should make them days of feasting and joy, and of sending portions one to another, and gifts to the poor.

²⁵ And the Jews accepted the custom which they had begun, and which Mordecai had written unto them.

²⁶ For Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had devised against them to destroy them, and had cast Pur to consume them and to destroy them. ²⁷ But when Esther 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 he hanged him and his sons on the gallows.

²⁸ Therefore they called these days Purim, after the name of Pur; and because of all the words of this letter, and of that which they had seen concerning them, and what had happened to them. ²⁹ These days were remembered, and kept by the Jews, and by their posterity, and by all who joined them, and who would join them, and they were not forgotten by them.