Esther 9
1 The first law that the king had commanded was to be made effective on March 7th. On that day the enemies of the Jews hoped to get rid of them. But instead, on that same day the Jews defeated their enemies.
So in the twelft moneth, which is the moneth Adar, vpon the thirteenth daye of the same, when the Kings commandement and his decree drew neere to be put in execution, in the day that the enemies of the Iewes hoped to haue power ouer them (but it turned contrary: for the Iewes had rule ouer them that hated them)
2 Throughout the empire, the Jews gathered together in their cities to attack those who wanted to get rid of them. No one could fight against the Jews, because all the other people in the areas where the Jews lived were afraid of them, [so they did not want to help anyone who attacked the Jews].
The Iewes gathered themselues together into their cities throughout all the prouinces of the King Ahashuerosh, to lay hande on such as sought their hurt, and no man coulde withstande them: for the feare of them fel vpon al people.
3 All the governors and [other] officials and important people in all the provinces helped the Jews, because they were afraid of Mordecai.
And all the rulers of the prouinces, and the princes and the captaines, and the officers of the King exalted the Iewes: for the feare of Mordecai fell vpon them.
4 They were afraid of him because in all the provinces [they knew that] Mordecai was now the king’s most important official, [with the authority that Haman previously had]. Mordecai was becoming more famous because [the king was giving him] more and more power.
For Mordecai was great in the kings house, and the report of him went through all the prouinces: for this man Mordecai waxed greater and greater.
5 [On March 7th, ] the Jews attacked and killed with their swords all of their enemies. They did whatever they wanted to do, to the people who hated them.
Thus the Iewes smote all their enemies with strokes of the sworde and slaughter, and destruction, and did what they woulde vnto those that hated them.
6 [Just] in Susa alone, the capital city, they killed 500 people.
And at Shushan the palace slewe the Iewes and destroyed fiue hundreth men,
7 Among those whom they killed were the ten sons of Haman. [Their names were] Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha,
And Parshandatha, and Dalphon, and Aspatha,
8 Poratha, Adalia, Aridatha,
And Poratha, and Adalia, and Aridatha,
9 Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai, and Vaizatha.
And Parmashta, and Arisai, and Aridai, and Vaiezatha,
10 Those were grandsons of Hammedatha and sons of Haman, the enemy of the Jews. The Jews killed them, but they did not take the things that belonged to the people whom they killed.
The ten sonnes of Haman, ye sonne of Ammedatha, the aduersarie of the Iewes slewe they: but they layd not their hands on the spoyle.
11 [At the end of] that day someone reported to the king the number of people whom the Jews killed in Susa.
On the same day came ye nomber of those that were slayne, vnto the palace of Shushan before the King.
12 Then the king said to Queen Esther, “The Jews have killed 500 people here in Susa, including the ten sons of Haman! [So I think that] they must have killed many more people in the rest of my empire [RHQ]! [But okay], now what else do you want me to do for you. You tell me, and I will do it.”
And the King sayd vnto the Queene Ester, The Iewes haue slayne in Shushan the palace and destroyed fiue hundreth men, and the ten sonnes of Haman: what haue they done in the rest of the Kings prouinces? and what is thy petition, that it may be giuen thee? or what is thy request moreouer, that it may be performed?
13 Esther replied, “If it pleases you, allow the Jews here in Susa to do again tomorrow what [you] commanded [them] to do today. And command that the bodies of Haman’s ten sons be hanged on the gallows/poles.”
Then sayd Ester, If it please the King, let it be granted also to morow to the Iewes that are in Shushan, to do according vnto this daies decree, that they may hang vpon ye tree Hamans ten sonnes.
14 So the king commanded that the Jews be permitted to kill more of their enemies the next day. After he issued [another] order in Susa, the bodies of Haman’s ten sons were hanged.
And the King charged to doe so, and the decree was giuen at Shushan, and they hanged Hamans ten sonnes.
15 On the next day, the Jews in Susa gathered together and killed 300 more people. But [again, ] they did not take the things that belonged to the people whom they killed.
So the Iewes that were in Shushan, assembled themselues vpon the fourteenth day of the moneth Adar, and slew three hundreth men in Shushan, but on the spoyle they layd not their hand.
16 That happened on March 8th. On the following day, the Jews [in Susa] rested and celebrated. In all the other provinces, the Jewish people gathered together to defend themselves, and they killed 75,000 people who hated them, but [again] they did not take the things that belonged to the people whom they killed.
And the rest of the Iewes that were in the Kings prouinces assembled themselues, and stood for their liues, and had rest from their enemies, and slewe of them that hated them, seuentie and fiue thousand: but they layd not their hand on the spoyle.
17 That occurred on March 7th, and on the following day they rested and celebrated.
This they did on the thirteenth day of the moneth Adar, and rested the fourteenth day thereof, and kept it a day of feasting and ioy.
18 After the Jews in Susa gathered together [and killed their enemies] on March 7th and 8th, they rested and celebrated on March 9th.
But the Iewes that were in Shushan assembled themselues on the thirteenth day, and on the fourteenth therof, and they rested on the fifteenth of the same, and kept it a day of feasting and ioy.
19 That is why [every year], on March 8th, the Jews who live in villages now celebrate [defeating their enemies]. They have feasts and give gifts [of food] to each other.
Therefore the Iewes of the villages that dwelt in the vnwalled townes, kept the foureteenth day of the moneth Adar with ioy and feasting, euen a ioyfull day, and euery one sent presents vnto his neighbour.
20 Mordecai wrote down all the things that had happened. Then he sent letters to the Jews who lived throughout the empire of King Xerxes.
And Mordecai wrote these words, and sent letters vnto all the Iewes that were through all the prouinces of the King Ahashuerosh, both neere and farre,
21 He told them that every year they should celebrate on the 8th and 9th of March,
Inioyning them that they shoulde keepe the fourteenth day of the moneth Adar, and the fifteenth day of the same, euery yeere.
22 because those were the days when the Jews got rid of their enemies. He also told them that they should celebrate on those days by feasting and giving gifts [of food] to each other and to poor people. They would remember it as the month in which they changed from being very sorrowful to being very joyful, from crying to celebrating.
According to the dayes wherein the Iewes rested from their enemies, and the moneth which was turned vnto them from sorowe to ioy, and from mourning into a ioyfull day, to keepe them the dayes of feasting, and ioy, and to sende presents euery man to his neyghbour, and giftes to the poore.
23 So the Jews agreed to do what Mordecai wrote. They agreed to celebrate on those days [every year].
And the Iewes promised to do as they had begun, and as Mordecai had written vnto them,
24 They would remember how Haman, son of Hammedatha, a descendant of [King] Agag, became an enemy of all the Jews. [They would remember] how he had made an evil plan to kill the Jews, and that he had (cast lots/thrown small marked stones) to choose the day to kill [DOU] them.
Because Haman the sonne of Hammedatha the Agagite al the Iewes aduersarie, had imagined against the Iewes, to destroy them, and had cast Pur (that is a lot) to consume and destroy them.
25 [They would remember] that when Esther told the king about Haman’s plan, the king arranged that the evil plan that Haman had made to kill the Jews would fail, and that he [would be killed] instead of the Jews, and that Haman and that his sons were hanged.
And when she came before the King, he commanded by letters, Let this wicked deuise (which he imagined against the Iewes) turne vpon his owne head, and let them hang him and his sonnes on the tree.
26 [Because the (lot/small marked stone) that Haman threw was called] Pur, the Jews called these days Purim. And, because of everything that ([Mordecai] wrote/was written) in that letter, and because of all that happened to them,
Therfore they called these dayes Purim, by the name of Pur, and because of all the wordes of this letter, and of that which they had seene besides this, and of that which had come vnto them.
27 the Jews [throughout the empire] agreed to celebrate in that manner on those two days every year. They said that they would tell their descendants and those people who became Jews to be certain to celebrate this festival every year. They should celebrate just as [Mordecai] told them to do [in the letter] that he wrote.
The Iewes also ordeined, and promised for them and for their seede, and for all that ioyned vnto them, that they would not faile to obserue those two dayes euery yeere, according to their writing, and according to their season,
28 They said that they would remember and celebrate on those two days every year, in each family, in every city, and in every province. They solemnly declared that they and their descendants would never stop remembering and celebrating those days called Purim.
And that these dayes shoulde be remembred, and kept throughout euery generation and euery familie, and euery prouince, and euery citie: euen these daies of Purim should not faile among the Iewes, and the memoriall of them should not perish from their seede.
29 Then Mordecai and Queen Esther, who was the daughter of Abihail, wrote a second letter about the Purim feast. Esther used the authority that she had because of being the queen to confirm that what Mordecai had written in the first letter was true.
And the Queene Ester ye daughter of Abihail and Mordecai the Iew wrote with al authoritie (to cofirme this letter of Purim ye second time)
30 What they wrote [in the second letter] was, “We wish that all of you will be living peacefully and safely/righteously. We want you and your descendants to celebrate Purim each year on the days that we two established, and to do the things that we two told you to do.” In that letter, Queen Esther and Mordecai also gave them instructions about (fasting/abstaining from eating food) and being sorrowful. Then copies of that letter were sent to all the Jews who were living in the 127 provinces of the empire.
And he sent letters vnto al the Iewes to the hundreth and seuen and twentie prouinces of the kingdome of Ahashuerosh, with words of peace and trueth,
To confirme these dayes of Purim, according to their seasons, as Mordecai the Iewe and Ester the Queene had appointed them, and as they had promised for them selues and for their seede with fasting and prayer.
32 The letter that Esther wrote about the manner in which they should celebrate the Purim feast was also written in an official record.
And the decree of Ester confirmed these words of Purim, and was written in the booke.
