Esther 9

Victory Over Their Enemies

1 On the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar, the day came when the king’s command was to be carried out. The enemies of the Jews had planned to overpower them, but things flipped, the Jews got the upper hand over those who hated them.

2 The Jews gathered in their cities across all the provinces of King Ahasuerus to strike anyone seeking to harm them. No one could stand against them because fear of them had spread everywhere.

3 All the provincial officials, governors, royal administrators, and the king’s officers helped the Jews, because fear of Mordecai had fallen on them.

4 Mordecai was now powerful in the palace, and his reputation had spread through all the provinces. He kept getting more and more influential.

5 The Jews struck down all their enemies with the sword, killing and destroying them, and did what they wanted to those who hated them.

The Battle in Susa

6 In the fortress of Susa, the Jews killed and destroyed five hundred men.

7 They also killed Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha,

8 Poratha, Adalia, Aridatha,

9 Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai, and Vaizatha.

10 The ten sons of Haman, son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews. But they did not take any of the plunder.

The King’s Inquiry

11 That day the number of those killed in Susa was reported to the king.

12 The king told Queen Esther, “The Jews have killed and destroyed five hundred men and the ten sons of Haman in Susa alone. What have they done in the rest of my provinces! Now what is your request, It will be granted.”

13 Esther said, “If it pleases the king, let the Jews in Susa do tomorrow what they did today, and have Haman’s ten sons impaled on poles.”

14 So the king commanded it to be done. The order was issued in Susa, and they impaled the ten sons of Haman.

15 The Jews in Susa came together on the fourteenth day of Adar and killed three hundred more men, but they did not take any plunder.

Victory in the Provinces

16 The rest of the Jews in the king’s provinces also gathered to defend themselves and got relief from their enemies. They killed seventy-five thousand of those who hated them, but did not take any plunder.

17 This happened on the thirteenth day of Adar, and on the fourteenth they rested and celebrated with feasting and joy.

18 The Jews in Susa, however, assembled on both the thirteenth and fourteenth days, and rested on the fifteenth, making it a day of feasting and joy.

19 That is why rural Jews, those living in villages, observe the fourteenth of Adar as a day of joy, feasting, and giving gifts to each other.

The Festival of Purim Established

20 Mordecai recorded these events and sent letters to all the Jews in the provinces of King Ahasuerus, near and far.

21 He told them to celebrate annually the fourteenth and fifteenth days of Adar

22 As the time when the Jews got relief from their enemies, and their sorrow was turned into joy, and their mourning into a holiday. They should celebrate with feasting, joy, giving gifts to one another, and gifts to the poor.

23 So the Jews agreed to do what they had begun, following what Mordecai had written to them.

24 Haman, son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had plotted to destroy them and cast the Pur (lot) to ruin them completely.

25 But when it came before the king, he ordered by written decree that the evil scheme Haman had plotted against the Jews should come back on his own head, and that he and his sons should be impaled.

26 That is why these days were called Purim, from the word Pur. Because of all that was written in the letter, what they had seen and what happened to them.

27 The Jews took it upon themselves, their descendants, and everyone who joined them to never fail to celebrate these two days every year, in the way prescribed and at the time appointed.

28 These days should be remembered and celebrated in every generation, by every family, in every province, and in every city. These days of Purim should never be neglected by the Jews, nor fail to be celebrated by their descendants.

Queen Esther’s Confirmation

29 Queen Esther, daughter of Abihail, along with Mordecai the Jew, wrote with full authority to confirm this second letter about Purim.

30 Mordecai sent letters to all the Jews in the 127 provinces of King Ahasuerus’ kingdom, words of peace and truth.

31 To establish these days of Purim at their appointed times, as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther had decreed for them, and as they had established for themselves and their descendants concerning their times of fasting and lamenting.

32 Esther’s command confirmed these practices of Purim, and it was written down in the records.