Esther 9
1 For in the twelfth month, on the thirteenth day of the month which is Adar, the letters written by the king arrived.
And in the twelfth month — it [is] the month of Adar — on the thirteenth day of it, in which the word of the king, even his law, hath come to be done, in the day that the enemies of the Jews had hoped to rule over them, and it is turned that the Jews rule over those hating them —
2 In that day the adversaries of the Jews perished: for no one resisted, through fear of them.
the Jews have been assembled in their cities, in all provinces of the king Ahasuerus, to put forth a hand on those seeking their evil, and no man hath stood in their presence, for their fear hath fallen on all the peoples.
3 For the chiefs of the satraps, and the princes and the royal scribes, honoured the Jews; for the fear of Mardochæus lay upon them.
And all heads of the provinces, and the lieutenants, and the governors, and those doing the work that the king hath, are lifting up the Jews, for a fear of Mordecai hath fallen upon them;
4 For the order of the king was in force, that he should be celebrated in all the kingdom.
for great [is] Mordecai in the house of the king, and his fame is going into all the provinces, for the man Mordecai is going on and becoming great.
And the Jews smite among all their enemies — a smiting of the sword, and slaughter, and destruction — and do with those hating them according to their pleasure,
6 And in the city Susa the Jews slew five hundred men:
and in Shushan the palace have the Jews slain and destroyed five hundred men;
7 both Pharsannes, and Delphon and Phasga,
and Parshandatha, and Dalphon, and Aspatha,
8 and Pharadatha, and Barea, and Sarbaca,
and Poratha, and Adalia, and Aridatha,
9 and Marmasima, and Ruphæus, and Arsæus, and Zabuthæus,
and Parmashta, and Arisai, and Aridai, and Vajezatha,
10 the ten sons of Aman the son of Amadathes the Bugæan, the enemy of the Jews, and they plundered [their property] on the same day:
ten sons of Haman son of Hammedatha, adversary of the Jews, they have slain, and on the prey they have not put forth their hand.
11 and the number of them that perished in Susa was rendered to the king.
On that day hath come the number of the slain in Shushan the palace before the king,
12 And the king said to Esther, The Jews have slain five hundred men in the city Susa; and how, thinkest thou, have they used them in the rest of the country? What then dost thou yet ask, that it may be [done] for thee?
and the king saith to Esther the queen, 'In Shushan the palace have the Jews slain and destroyed five hundred men, and the ten sons of Haman; in the rest of the provinces of the king what have they done? and what [is] thy petition? and it is given to thee; and what thy request again? and it is done.'
13 And Esther said to the king, Let it be granted to the Jews so to treat them to-morrow as to hang the ten sons of Aman.
And Esther saith, 'If to the king [it be] good, let it be given also to-morrow, to the Jews who [are] in Shushan, to do according to the law of to-day; and the ten sons of Haman they hang on the tree.'
14 And he permitted it to be so done; and he gave up to the Jews of the city the bodies of the sons of Aman to hang.
And the king saith — 'to be done so;' and a law is given in Shushan, and the ten sons of Haman they have hanged.
15 And the Jews assembled in Susa on the fourteenth [day] of Adar, and slew three hundred men, but plundered no property.
And the Jews who [are] in Shushan are assembled also on the fourteenth day of the month of Adar, and they slay in Shushan three hundred men, and on the prey they have not put forth their hand.
16 And the rest of the Jews who were in the kingdom assembled, and helped one another, and obtained rest from their enemies: for they destroyed fifteen thousand of them on the thirteenth [day] of Adar, but took no spoil.
And the rest of the Jews, who [are] in the provinces of the king, have been assembled, even to stand for their life, and to rest from their enemies, and to slay among those hating them five and seventy thousand, and on the prey they have not put forth their hand;
17 And they rested on the fourteenth of the same month, and kept it as a day of rest with joy and gladness.
on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar, even to rest on the fourteenth of it, and to make it a day of banquet and of joy.
18 And the Jews in the city Susa assembled also on the fourteenth [day] and rested; and they kept also the fifteenth with joy and gladness.
And the Jews who [are] in Shushan have been assembled, on the thirteenth day of it, and on the fourteenth of it, even to rest on the fifteenth of it, and to make it a day of banquet and of joy.
19 On this account then [it is that] the Jews dispersed in every foreign land keep the fourteenth of Adar [as] a holy day with joy, sending portions each to his neighbour.
Therefore the Jews of the villages, who are dwelling in cities of the villages, are making the fourteenth day of the month of Adar — joy and banquet, and a good day, and of sending portions one to another.
20 And Mardochæus wrote these things in a book, and sent them to the Jews, as many as were in the kingdom of Artaxerxes, both them that were near and them that were afar off,
And Mordecai writeth these things, and sendeth letters unto all the Jews who [are] in all provinces of the king Ahasuerus, who are near and who are far off,
21 to establish these [as] joyful days, and to keep the fourteenth and fifteenth of Adar;
to establish on them, to be keeping the fourteenth day of the month of Adar, and the fifteenth day of it, in every year and year,
22 for on these days the Jews obtained rest from their enemies: and [as to] the month, which was Adar, in which a change was made for them, from mourning to joy, and from sorrow to a good day, to spend the whole of it [in] good days of feasting and gladness, sending portions to their friends, and to the poor.
as days on which the Jews have rested from their enemies, and the month that hath been turned to them from sorrow to joy, and from mourning to a good day, to make them days of banquet and of joy, and of sending portions one to another, and gifts to the needy.
23 And the Jews consented [to this] accordingly as Mardochæus wrote to them,
And the Jews have received that which they had begun to do, and that which Mordecai hath written unto them,
24 [shewing] how Aman the son of Amadathes the Macedonian fought against them, how he made a decree and cast lots to destroy them utterly;
because Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, adversary of all the Jews, had devised concerning the Jews to destroy them, and had caused to fall Pur — that [is] the lot — to crush them and to destroy them;
25 also how he went in to the king, telling [him] to hang Mardochæus: but all the calamities he tried to bring upon the Jews came upon himself, and he was hanged, and his children.
and in her coming in before the king, he said with the letter, 'Let his evil device that he devised against the Jews turn back upon his own head,' and they have hanged him and his sons on the tree,
26 Therefore these days were called Phruræ, because of the lots; (for in their language they are called Phruræ; ) because of the words of this letter, and [because of] all they suffered on this account, and all that happened to them.
therefore they have called these days Purim — by the name of the lot — therefore, because of all the words of this letter, and what they have seen concerning this, and what hath come unto them,
27 And [Mardochæus] established it, and the Jews took upon themselves, and upon their seed, and upon those that were joined to them [to observe it], neither would they on any account behave differently: but these days [were to be] a memorial kept in every generation, and city, and family, and province.
the Jews have established and received upon them, and upon their seed, and upon all those joined unto them, and it doth not pass away, to be keeping these two days according to their writing, and according to their season, in every year and year;
28 And these days of the Phruræ, [said they], shall be kept for ever, and their memorial shall not fail in any generation.
and these days are remembered and kept in every generation and generation, family and family, province and province, and city and city, and these days of Purim do not pass away from the midst of the Jews, and their memorial is not ended from their seed.
29 And queen Esther, the daughter of Aminadab, and Mardochæus the Jew, wrote all that they had done, and the confirmation of the letter of Phruræ.
And Esther the queen, daughter of Abihail, writeth, and Mordecai the Jew, with all might, to establish this second letter of Purim,
and he sendeth letters unto all the Jews, unto the seven and twenty and a hundred provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus — words of peace and truth —
31 And Mardochæus and Esther the queen appointed [a fast] for themselves privately, even at that time also having formed their plan against their own health.
to establish these days of Purim, in their seasons, as Mordecai the Jew hath established on them, and Esther the queen, and as they had established on themselves, and on their seed — matters of the fastings, and of their cry.
32 And Esther established it by a command for ever, and it was written for a memorial.
And a saying of Esther hath established these matters of Purim, and it is written in the Book.
