9 So, in the twelfth month (which is the month Adar), upon the thirteenth day of the same, when the execution of the king’s commandment and his decree drew near, on the day that the enemies of the Jews hoped to have power over them (but it had ended differently, for the Jews had rule over those who hated them),

² the Jews gathered themselves together into their cities throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, to lay hand on those who had sought their hurt. And no man could withstand them, for the fear of them fell upon all people.

³ And all the rulers of the provinces, and the princes, and the captains, and the officers of the king, exalted the Jews. For the fear of Mordecai fell upon them.

⁴ For Mordecai was great in the king’s house; and the report of him went through all the provinces. For this man, Mordecai, grew greater and greater.

⁵ Thus, the Jews struck all their enemies with strokes of the sword and slaughter and destruction and did what they would to those who hated them.

⁶ And at Shushan, the palace, the Jews killed and destroyed five hundred men,

⁷ including Parshandatha, and Dalphon, and Aspatha,

⁸ and Poratha, and Adalia, and Aridatha,

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

¹⁰ the ten sons of Haman, the son of Hammedatha, the adversary of the Jews. But they did not lay their hands on the plunder.

¹¹ That same day, the number of those who were killed was reported to the king, to the palace of Shushan.

¹² And the king said to Queen Esther, “The Jews have killed in Shushan, the palace, and destroyed five hundred men, including the ten sons of Haman. What have they done in the rest of the king’s provinces? And what is your petition, so that it may be given to you? Or, moreover, what is your request, so that it may be performed?”

¹³ Then Esther said, “If it please the king, let it be granted to the Jews who are in Shushan to do again tomorrow according to today’s decree: that they may hang Haman’s ten sons upon the tree.

¹⁴ And the king charged to do so. And the decree was given at Shushan. And they hanged Haman’s ten sons.

¹⁵ So the Jews who were in Shushan assembled themselves upon the fourteenth day of the month, Adar, and killed three hundred men in Shushan. But they did not lay their hands on the plunder.

¹⁶ And the rest of the Jews who were in the king’s provinces assembled themselves and stood for their lives, and had rest from their enemies, and killed 75,000 of those who hated them. But they did not lay their hands on the plunder.

¹⁷ They did this on the thirteenth day of the month, Adar, and rested the fourteenth day. And they kept it as a day of feasting and joy.

¹⁸ But, the Jews who were in Shushan assembled themselves on the thirteenth day, and on the fourteenth. And they rested on the fifteenth and kept it as a day of feasting and joy.

¹⁹ Therefore, the Jews of the villages, who dwelt in the un-walled towns, kept the fourteenth day of the month, Adar, with joy and feasting, a joyful holiday. And everyone sent presents to his neighbor.

²⁰ And Mordecai wrote these words and sent letters to all the Jews who were through all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far,

²¹ establishing that they should keep the fourteenth day of the month, Adar, and the fifteenth day, every year,

²² as the days when the Jews rested from their enemies, as the month which was turned from sorrow to joy for them, and from mourning into a joyful day, to keep as days of feasting and joy, and for everyone to send presents to his neighbor, and gifts to the poor.

²³ And the Jews promised to do as they had begun, and as Mordecai had written to them,

²⁴ because Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, all the Jews’ adversary, had plotted against the Jews to destroy them, and had cast Pur (that is, a lot) to consume and destroy them.

²⁵ And when she came before the king, he commanded by letters, “Let this wicked plan which he imagined against the Jews turn upon his own head; and let them hang him and his sons on the tree.”

²⁶ Therefore, they called these days Purim (from the name, Pur). And because of all the words of this letter, and of that which they had seen besides this, and of that which had come unto them,

²⁷ the Jews also ordained and promised —for them and for their seed, and for all that joined unto them —that they would not fail to observe these two days every year, according to their writing and according to their season,

²⁸ and that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation and every family and every province and every city. And these days of Purim should not fail among the Jews, and the memorial of them should not perish from their seed.

²⁹ And Queen Esther, the daughter of Abihail, and Mordecai the Jew wrote with all authority, to confirm this letter of Purim a second time.

³⁰ And he sent letters to all the Jews (to the 127 provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus) with words of peace and truth,

³¹ to confirm these days of Purim, according to their seasons, as Mordecai the Jew and Esther the Queen had appointed them, and as they had promised for themselves and for their seed with fasting and prayer.

³² And the decree of Esther confirmed these words of Purim and was written in the Book.