CHAPTER 9
On the thirteenth
day
of the twelfth
month,
the month
of Adar,
the king's
command
and edict
were to be executed.
On this day
the enemies
of the Jews
had hoped
to overpower
them,
but the tables were turned
and the Jews
overpowered
those
who hated them.
In each
of the provinces
of King
Xerxes,
the Jews
assembled
in their cities
to attack
those who sought
to harm them.
No
man
could withstand
them,
because
the fear of them
had fallen
upon
all
peoples.
And all
the officials
of the provinces,
the satraps,
the governors,
and the king's
administrators
helped
the Jews,
because
the fear
of Mordecai
had fallen
upon them.
For
Mordecai
exercised great
power in the palace,
and his fame
spread
throughout
the provinces
as
he
became
more and more powerful.
The Jews
put
all
their enemies
to the sword,
killing
and destroying them,
and they did
what they pleased
to those who hated them.
They killed
these ten
sons
of Haman
son
of Hammedatha,
the enemy
of the Jews,
but they did not
lay
a hand
on the plunder.
who
said
to Queen
Esther,
“In the citadel
of Susa
the Jews
have killed
and destroyed
five
hundred
men,
including Haman’s
ten
sons.
What
have they done
in the rest
of the royal
provinces?
Now what is
your petition?
It will be given
to you.
And what
further
do you request?
It will be fulfilled."
Esther
replied,
“If
it pleases
the king,
may the Jews
in Susa
also
have tomorrow
to carry out
today’s
edict,
and may the bodies of Haman’s
ten
sons
be hanged
on
the gallows.”
So the king
commanded
that this
be done.
An edict
was issued
in Susa,
and they hanged
the ten
sons
of Haman.
On the fourteenth
day
of the month
of Adar,
the Jews
in Susa
came together
again
and put to death
three
hundred
men
there,
but they did not
lay
a hand
on the plunder.
The rest
of the Jews
in the royal
provinces
also assembled
to defend
themselves
and rid themselves
of their enemies.
They killed
75,000
who hated them,
but did not
lay
a hand
on the plunder.
This was done on the thirteenth
day
of the month
of Adar,
and on the fourteenth day
they rested,
making it
a day
of feasting
and joy.
The Jews
in Susa, however,
had assembled
on the thirteenth
and the fourteenth
days of the month.
So they rested
on the fifteenth
day,
making
it
a day
of feasting
and joy.
This is why
the rural
Jews,
who live
in the villages,
observe
the fourteenth day
of the month
of Adar
as a day
of joy
and feasting.
It is a holiday
for sending
gifts
to one
another.
Mordecai
recorded
these
events
and sent
letters
to
all
the Jews
in all
the provinces
of King
Xerxes,
both near
and far,
to establish
among them
an annual
celebration
on the fourteenth
and fifteenth
days
of the month
of Adar
as the days
on which
the Jews
had rid themselves
of their enemies
and the month
in which
their sorrow
had turned
to joy
and their mourning
into a holiday.
He wrote that these were to be
days
of feasting
and joy,
of sending
gifts
to one
another
and
to the poor.
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)
to crush
and destroy them.
But when it came
before
the king,
he commanded
by
letter
that the wicked
scheme
which
Haman had devised
against
the Jews
should come back
on
his own head,
and that he
and
his sons
should be hanged
on
the gallows.
Therefore
these
days
are called
Purim,
from
the word
Pur.
Because of
all
the instructions
in this
letter,
and because of all
they had seen
and experienced,
the Jews
bound themselves
to establish the custom
that they
and their descendants
and all
who join
them
should not
fail
to celebrate
these
two
days
at the appointed time
each
and every year,
according to their regulation.
These
days
should be remembered
and celebrated
by every
generation,
family,
province,
and city,
so that these
days
of Purim
should not
fail to be observed
among
the Jews,
nor should the memory of them
fade
from their descendants.
So Queen
Esther
daughter
of Abihail,
along with Mordecai
the Jew,
wrote
with full
authority
to confirm
this
second
letter
concerning Purim.
And Mordecai sent
letters
with words
of peace
and truth
to
all
the Jews
in
the 127
provinces
of the kingdom
of Xerxes,
in order to confirm
these
days
of Purim
at their appointed time,
just as
Mordecai
the Jew
and Queen
Esther
had established them
and
had committed
themselves
and their descendants
to the times
of fasting
and lamentation.