Esther 9

1 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, has 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—

For in the twelfth month, on the thirteenth day of the month which is Adar, the letters written by the king arrived.

2 the Jews have been assembled in their cities, in all provinces of King Ahasuerus, to put forth a hand on those seeking their evil, and no man has stood in their presence, for their fear has fallen on all the peoples.

In that day the adversaries of the Jews perished: for no one resisted, through fear of them.

3 And all heads of the provinces, and the lieutenants, and the governors, and those doing the work that the king has, are lifting up the Jews, for a fear of Mordecai has fallen on them;

For the chiefs of the satraps, and the princes and the royal scribes, honoured the Jews; for the fear of Mardochæus lay upon them.

4 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.

For the order of the king was in force, that he should be celebrated in all the kingdom.

5 And the Jews strike among all their enemies—a striking of the sword, and slaughter, and destruction—and do with those hating them according to their pleasure,

6 and in Shushan the palace the Jews have slain and destroyed five hundred men;

And in the city Susa the Jews slew five hundred men:

7 and Parshandatha, and Dalphon, and Aspatha,

both Pharsannes, and Delphon and Phasga,

8 and Poratha, and Adalia, and Aridatha,

and Pharadatha, and Barea, and Sarbaca,

9 and Parmashta, and Arisai, and Aridai, and Vajezatha,

and Marmasima, and Ruphæus, and Arsæus, and Zabuthæus,

10 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.

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:

11 On that day has come the number of the slain in Shushan the palace before the king,

and the number of them that perished in Susa was rendered to the king.

12 and the king says to Esther the queen, “In Shushan the palace the Jews have 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] your petition? And it is given to you; and what your request again? And it is done.”

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?

13 And Esther says, “If [it is] good to the king, let it also be given tomorrow, to the Jews who [are] in Shushan, to do according to the law of today; and the ten sons of Haman they hang on the tree.”

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.

14 And the king commands [for it] to be done so; and a law is given in Shushan, and they have hanged the ten sons of Haman.

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.

15 And the Jews who [are] in Shushan are also assembled on the fourteenth day of the month of Adar, and they slay three hundred men in Shushan, and they have not put forth their hand on the prey.

And the Jews assembled in Susa on the fourteenth [day] of Adar, and slew three hundred men, but plundered no property.

16 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 seventy-five thousand among those hating them, and they have not put forth their hand on the prey;

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.

17 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.

And they rested on the fourteenth of the same month, and kept it as a day of rest with joy and gladness.

18 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.

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.

19 Therefore the Jews of the open places, who are dwelling in cities of the open places, are making the fourteenth day of the month of Adar—joy and banquet, and a good day, and of sending portions to one another.

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.

20 And Mordecai writes these things, and sends letters to all the Jews who [are] in all provinces of King Ahasuerus, who are near and who are far off,

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,

21 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,

to establish these [as] joyful days, and to keep the fourteenth and fifteenth of Adar;

22 as days on which the Jews have rested from their enemies, and the month that has 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 to one another, and gifts to the needy.

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.

23 And the Jews have received that which they had begun to do, and that which Mordecai has written to them,

And the Jews consented [to this] accordingly as Mardochæus wrote to them,

24 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;

[shewing] how Aman the son of Amadathes the Macedonian fought against them, how he made a decree and cast lots to destroy them utterly;

25 and in her coming in before the king, he commanded with the letter, “Let his evil scheme that he devised against the Jews return on his own head,” and they have hanged him and his sons on the tree,

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.

26 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 has come to them,

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.

27 the Jews have established and received on them, and on their seed, and on all those joined to them, and it does not pass away, to be keeping these two days according to their writing, and according to their season, in every year and year;

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.

28 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.

And these days of the Phruræ, [said they], shall be kept for ever, and their memorial shall not fail in any generation.

29 And Esther the queen, daughter of Abihail, writes, and Mordecai the Jew, with all might, to establish this second letter of Purim,

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.

30 and he sends letters to all the Jews, to the one hundred twenty-seven provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus—words of peace and truth—

31 to establish these days of Purim, in their seasons, as Mordecai the Jew has 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.

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.

32 And a saying of Esther has established these matters of Purim, and it is written in the Scroll.

And Esther established it by a command for ever, and it was written for a memorial.