Esther 9
1 Igitur duodecimi mensis, quem Adar vocari ante iam diximus, tertiadecima die, quando cunctis Iudæis interfectio parabatur, et hostes eorum inhiabant sanguini, versa vice Iudæi superiores esse cœperunt, et se de adversariis vindicare.
Now in the twelfth month (that is the month of Adar), on the thirteenth day, when the king’s command and his decree was about to put into execution, on the day that the enemies of the Jews hoped to gain the mastery over them, then the tables were turned so that the Jews had the mastery over those who hated them.
2 Congregatique sunt per singulas civitates, oppida, et loca ut extenderent manum contra inimicos, et persecutores suos. Nullusque ausus est resistere, eo quod omnes populos magnitudinis eorum formido penetrarat.
The Jews gathered together in the cities throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, to attack anyone who tried to harm them. No one could withstand them, for the fear of them had fallen on all the peoples.
3 Nam et provinciarum iudices, et duces, et procuratores, omnisque dignitas, quæ singulis locis ac operibus præerat, extollebant Iudæos timore Mardochæi:
All the princes of the provinces and the satraps and the governors and they who attended to the king’s business, helped the Jews, because the fear of Mordecai had fallen on them.
4 quem principem esse palatii, et plurimum posse cognoverant: fama quoque nominis eius crescebat quotidie, et per cunctorum ora volitabat.
For Mordecai was great in the king’s palace, and as his power increased his fame spread throughout all the provinces.
5 Itaque percusserunt Iudæi inimicos suos plaga magna, et occiderunt eos, reddentes eis quod sibi paraverant facere:
The Jews put all their enemies to the sword and, with slaughter and destruction, they did what they wanted to those who hated them.
6 in tantum ut etiam in Susan quingentos viros interficerent, extra decem filios Aman Agagitæ hostis Iudæorum: quorum ista sunt nomina:
In Susa the capital the Jews killed five hundred people.
7 Pharsandatha, et Delphon, et Esphatha,
They killed Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha,
8 et Phoratha, et Adalia, et Aridatha,
Poratha, Adalia, Aridatha,
9 et Phermesta et Arisai, et Aridai, et Iezatha.
Parmashta, Arisia, Aridai, and Vaizatha,
10 Quos cum occidissent, prædas de substantiis eorum tangere noluerunt.
the ten sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Jews’ enemy; but they did not take any plunder.
11 Statimque numerus eorum, qui occisi erant in Susan, ad regem relatus est.
On that day the number of those who were slain in Susa was brought before the king,
12 Qui dixit reginæ: In urbe Susan interfecerunt Iudæi quingentos viros, et alios decem filios Aman: quantam putas eos exercere cædem in universis provinciis? Quid ultra postulas, et quid vis ut fieri iubeam?
and the king said to Queen Esther, ‘The Jews have slain five hundred people in Susa, and the ten sons of Haman. What then have they done in the rest of the king’s provinces! Now what is your petition? It will be granted to you. What is your request? It will be done.’
13 Cui illa respondit: Si regi placet, detur potestas Iudæis, ut sicut fecerunt hodie in Susan, sic et cras faciant, et decem filii Aman in patibulis suspendantur.
‘If it please the king,’ Esther said, ‘let it be granted to the Jews who are in Susa to do tomorrow also according to this day’s decree. Let the bodies of Haman’s ten sons be hanged on the gallows.’
14 Præcepitque rex ut ita fieret. Statimque in Susan pependit edictum, et decem filii Aman suspensi sunt.
And the king commanded it to be done. A decree was given out in Susa and they hung the bodies of Haman’s ten sons on the gallows.
15 Congregatis Iudæis quartadecima die mensis Adar, interfecti sunt in Susan trecenti viri: nec eorum ab illis direpta substantia est.
The Jews who were in Susa gathered themselves together again on the fourteenth day of the month of Adar. They killed three hundred people in Susa. But they did not take any plunder.
16 Sed et per omnes provincias, quæ ditioni regis subiacebant, pro animabus suis steterunt Iudæi, interfectis hostibus ac persecutoribus suis: in tantum ut septuagintaquinque millia occisorum implerentur, et nullus de substantiis eorum quidquam contingeret.
And the other Jews who were in the king’s provinces gathered themselves together and fought for their lives and overcame their enemies. They killed seventy-five thousand who hated them. But they did not take any plunder.
17 Dies autem tertiusdecimus mensis Adar primus apud omnes interfectionis fuit, et quartadecima die cædere desierunt. Quem constituerunt esse sollemnem, ut in eo omni tempore deinceps vacarent epulis, gaudio atque conviviis.
This was on the thirteenth day of Adar. On the fourteenth day of the month Adar the Jews rested and made it a day of feasting and rejoicing.
18 At hi, qui in urbe Susan cædem exercuerant, tertiodecimo et quartodecimo die eiusdem mensis in cæde versati sunt: quintodecimo autem die percutere desierunt. Et idcirco eundem diem constituerunt sollemnem epularum atque lætitiæ.
(But the Jews in Susa gathered on both the thirteenth and fourteenth day – and rested on the fifteenth day of the same month and made it a day of feasting and rejoicing.)
19 Hi vero Iudæi, qui in oppidis non muratis ac villis morabantur, quartumdecimum diem mensis Adar conviviorum et gaudii decreverunt, ita ut exultent in eo, et mittant sibi mutuo partes epularum et ciborum.
This is why the Jews who live in the country villages keep the fourteenth day of the month of Adar as a day of rejoicing and feasting and a holiday, and a day in which they send gifts of food to each other.
20 Scripsit itaque Mardochæus omnia hæc, et litteris comprehensa misit ad Iudæos, qui in omnibus regis provinciis morabantur, tam in vicino positis, quam procul,
Mordecai had these things recorded. He sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of the King Ahasuerus, both near and far.
21 ut quartamdecimam et quintamdecimam diem mensis Adar pro festis susciperent, et revertente semper anno sollemni celebrarent honore:
He told them to keep the fourteenth day of the month of Adar and also the fifteenth day every year,
22 quia in ipsis diebus se ulti sunt Iudæi de inimicis suis, et luctus atque tristitia in hilaritatem gaudiumque conversa sunt, essentque dies isti epularum atque lætitiæ, et mitterent sibi invicem ciborum partes, et pauperibus munuscula largirentur.
as the days on which the Jews had rest from their enemies, and the month which was turned from sorrow to gladness and from mourning into a feast day. They should make them days of feasting and gladness and of sending gifts of food to each other and of gifts to the poor.
23 Susceperuntque Iudæi in sollemnem ritum cuncta quæ eo tempore facere cœperant, et quæ Mardochæus litteris facienda mandaverat.
So what the Jews had begun to do they adopted as a custom, just as Mordecai had written to them.
24 Aman enim, filius Amadathi stirpis Agag, hostis et adversarius Iudæorum, cogitavit contra eos malum, ut occideret illos, atque deleret: et misit phur, quod nostra lingua vertitur in sortem.
For Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had plotted to destroy them. He had cast “Pur”, that is the lot, intending to consume them and to destroy them.
25 Et postea ingressa est Esther ad regem, obsecrans ut conatus eius, litteris regis irriti fierent: et malum, quod contra Iudæos cogitaverat, reverteretur in caput eius. Denique et ipsum et filios eius affixerunt cruci,
But when the matter came before the king, he gave written orders that his wicked plot, which he had planned against the Jews, should come upon his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows.
26 atque ex illo tempore dies isti appellati sunt phurim, id est sortium: eo quod phur, id est sors, in urnam missa fuerit. Et cuncta, quæ gesta sunt, epistolæ, id est libri huius volumine continentur:
This is why these days are called Purim, after the word Pur. Therefore because of all the words of this letter, as well as all they had seen, and all they had experienced,
27 quæque sustinuerunt, et quæ deinceps immutata sunt, susceperunt Iudæi super se et semen suum, et super cunctos, qui religioni eorum voluerunt copulari, ut nulli liceat duos hos dies absque sollemnitate transigere: quos scriptura testatur, et certa expetunt tempora, annis sibi iugiter succedentibus.
the Jews established and made it a custom for them, for their descendants, and for all who should join them, so that it might not be repealed, that they should continue to observe these two days as feasts each year,
28 Isti sunt dies, quos nulla umquam delebit oblivio: et per singulas generationes cunctæ in toto orbe provinciæ celebrabunt: nec est ulla civitas, in qua dies phurim, id est sortium, non observentur a Iudæis, et ab eorum progenie, quæ his ceremoniis obligata est.
and that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, every family, every province, and every city. And these days of Purim should not pass away from among the Jews nor the remembrance of them disappear among their descendants.
29 Scripseruntque Esther regina filia Abihail, et Mardochæus Iudæus etiam secundam epistolam, ut omni studio dies ista solemnis sanciretur in posterum:
Queen Esther, the daughter of Abihail, gave Mordecai the Jew all authority in writing to confirm this second letter of Purim.
30 et miserunt ad omnes Iudæos, qui in centum viginti septem provinciis regis Assueri versabantur, ut haberent pacem, et susciperent veritatem,
He sent letters to all the Jews, to the hundred and twenty-seven provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, wishing them peace and security,
31 observantes dies sortium, et suo tempore cum gaudio celebrarent: sicut constituerant Mardochæus et Esther, et illi observanda susceperunt a se, et a semine suo ieiunia, et clamores, et sortium dies,
to confirm these days of Purim in their proper times, to be observed as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther had directed and as the Jews had proscribed for themselves and their descendants, in the matter of the fastings and their cry of lamentation.
32 et omnia, quæ libri huius, qui vocatur Esther, historia continentur.
And the commands of Esther confirmed these matters of Purim; and it was written in the records.
