The Jews Destroy Their Enemies

1And in the two and tenth month (it is the month of Adar),† on the three and tenth day in it, on which the word of the king and his decree had reached to be done, in the day that the enemies of the Jews† had hoped to gain power over them, this was overturned, that the Jews themselves gained power over those hating them. 2The Jews gathered together in their cities in all of the provinces of King Ahasuerus, to stretch out a hand against those seeking their evil. And no man could stand before their faces, because the fear of them had fallen upon all the peoples.

3And all the officials of the provinces, and the satraps, and the governors, and those doing the work that were to the king were lifting up the Jews, because the fear of Mordecai had fallen upon them. 4For Mordecai was great in the house of the king, and the report of him went forth in all the provinces, for the man Mordecai was going on and becoming great.

And the Jews struck in all their enemies a blow of the sword, and slaughter, and destruction, and they did to those hating them according to their pleasure. 6And in Susa the citadel the Jews killed and destroyed five hundred men. 7And Parshandatha, and Dalphon, and Aspatha, 8and Poratha, and Adalia, and Aridatha, 9and Parmashta, and Arisai, and Aridai, and Vaizatha,† 10ten sons of Haman son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews, they killed. And on the plunder they did not stretch out their hand.

Haman’s Sons Hanged

11In that day, the number of the slain in Susa the citadel was brought before the face of the king. 12And the king said to Esther the queen, “In Susa the citadel, the Jews have killed and destroyed five hundred men, and ten sons of Haman. In the rest of the provinces of the king, what have they done? And what is your petition? And it will be given to you. And what is your request again? And it will be done.”

13And Esther said, “If upon the king it is good, let it be given also tomorrow to the Jews who are in Susa to do according to the law of today; and let ten sons of Haman be hanged on the tree.”

14And the king said to do so, and the law was given in Susa, and they hanged ten sons of Haman. 15And the Jews who were in Susa gathered together again on the four and tenth day of the month of Adar, and in Susa they killed three hundred men, and on the plunder they did not stretch out their hand.

16And the rest of the Jews who were in the provinces of the king gathered together and stood for their soul, and they had rest from their enemies. And they killed five and seventy thousand of those hating them, and on the plunder they did not stretch out their hand— 17on the three and tenth day of the month of Adar—and they rested on the four and tenth of it, and they made it a day of feasting and joy.

The Feast of Purim Instituted

18And the Jews who were in Susa assembled on the three and tenth of it, and on the four and tenth of it, then they rested on the five and tenth of it, and they made it a day of feasting and joy. 19Upon thus the Jews of the villages, the ones dwelling in the cities of the open country, were making the four and tenth day of the month of Adar for joy and feasting, and a good day, and sending portions, each man to his neighbor.

20And Mordecai wrote these words, and he sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, those near and those far away, 21to establish for them to be keeping the four and tenth day of the month of Adar, and the five and tenth day of it, in every year and year, 22as the days on which the Jews had rest on them from their enemies, and the month that was turned for them from sorrow to joy, and from mourning to a good day, to make them days of feasting and joy, and for sending portions, each man to his neighbor, and gifts to the needy.

23And the Jews received that which they had begun to do, and what Mordecai wrote to them, 24for Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had plotted against the Jews to destroy them, and had caused to fall Pur (that is, the lot) to throw them into confusion and to destroy them. 25And when she came in before the face of the king, he said with the letter that his evil plot, which he had plotted against the Jews, should return back upon his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the tree.

26Upon thus they called these days Purim, on account of the name Pur.

Upon thus, on account of all the words of this letter, and what they had seen concerning this matter, and what had come to them, 27the Jews established and received it upon themselves and upon their seed and upon all those joining upon them, and it shall not pass away to be keeping these two days, according to their writing and according to their appointed time in every year and year, 28and these days shall be remembered and kept in every generation and generation, family and family, province and province, and city and city. And these days of Purim shall not pass away from the midst of the Jews, and their remembrance shall not cease among their seed.

29And Esther the queen, daughter of Abihail, wrote, and Mordecai the Jew, with full authority, to establish this second letter of Purim. And he sent letters to all the Jews, to the seven and twenty and a hundred provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, with words of peace and truth, 31to establish these days of Purim in their appointed times, as Mordecai the Jew and Esther the queen established upon them, and as they established upon their souls and upon their seed, the matters of the fasts and their outcry.

32And the command of Esther established these matters of Purim, and it was written in the book.

Footnotes:

1 Adar is the twelfth month of the Hebrew lunar calendar, usually occurring within the months of February and March; also in verses 15, 17, 19, and 21.
1 Or Judean(s); The term is not limited to the ancestral tribe of Judah, but refers more broadly to the exilic/post-exilic people dispersed throughout the Persian Empire; here and througout the chapter
9 Or Vajezatha