Esther 9

Lexham English Bible

The Jews Destroy Their Enemies

9 In the twelfth month, that is the month of Adar, on the thirteenth day, on which the edict of the king arrived and his law was enacted, on the day in which the enemies of the Jews had hoped to gain power over them but was overturned, and the Jews gained power against their enemies, ² the Jews gathered in their cities in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus to strike against^[a] those who sought their destruction, and no one could withstand them,^[b] as the fear of them fell on all the people. ³ All the officials of the provinces, the satraps, governors, and those who did the work of the king^[c] were supporting the Jews, because the fear of Mordecai had fallen on them. ⁴ For Mordecai was high-ranking in the king’s palace^[d] and his fame spread throughout all the provinces as Mordecai grew more and more powerful.^{[e] 5} The Jews struck down all their enemies with the sword,^[f] killing and destroying them; and they did as they pleased with those that hated them. ⁶ And in the citadel of Susa the Jews killed and destroyed five hundred men, ⁷ and Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha, ⁸ Portha, Adalia, Aridatha, ⁹ Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai, and Vaizatha, ¹⁰ the ten sons of Haman, the son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews; but they did not touch^[g] the plunder.

¹¹ On that day the number of those being killed in the citadel of Susa was reported to^[h] the king. ¹² And the king said to Queen Esther, “In the citadel of Susa the Jews killed and destroyed five hundred men and the ten sons of Haman. What have they done in the rest of the king’s provinces? What is your petition? It will be granted to you. And what further is your request? It will be done.” ¹³ Esther replied, “If it is good to the king, let tomorrow also be granted to the Jews who are in Susa to do according to the edict of today; and let them hang Haman’s ten sons on the gallows.” ¹⁴ And the king said to do so. And a decree was issued in Susa and Haman’s ten sons were hanged. ¹⁵ And the Jews were gathered who were in Susa, and on the fourteenth day of the month of Adar and they killed in Susa three hundred men, but they did not touch^[i] the plunder.

¹⁶ The rest of the Jews who were in the king’s provinces gathered and defended their lives^[j] and found repose^[k] from their enemies. And they killed seventy-five thousand of those that hated them, but they did not touch^[l] the plunder. ¹⁷ This was on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar. They rested on the fourteenth day and made it a day of feasting and joy. ¹⁸ But the Jews who were in Susa gathered on the thirteenth and on the fourteenth day, and rested on the fifteenth day. And they made it a day of feasting and joy. ¹⁹ Therefore the Jews in the rural areas, living in the rural towns, made the fourteenth month of Adar a day of joy and feasting, a festive day of giving gifts to each other.

The Feast of Purim

²⁰ Mordecai wrote down these things and he sent letters to all the Jews who were in all of the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far, ²¹ to impose on them to keep the fourteenth day of the month of Adar, and the fifteenth day, every year,^{[m] 22} as the day that the Jews found relief^[n] from their enemies, and the month which changed for them from sorrow to joy, and from a mourning ceremony to a festive day;^[o] to make them days of feasting and joy, and giving gifts to each other and to the poor. ²³ And the Jews adopted what they had begun to do and what Mordecai had written to them.

²⁴ For Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews had plotted against the Jews to destroy them, and he had cast pur, that is the lot, to rout them out and destroy them. ²⁵ But when it came^[p] to the attention of^[q] the king, he gave orders in writing^[r] that his evil plot that he had devised against the Jews should return on his head, and they hung him and his sons on the gallows. ²⁶ Therefore they called these days Purim, because of the name Pur. Thus because of all the words of this letter, and of what they faced concerning this, and of what had happened to them, ²⁷ the Jews established and adopted it for themselves and for their offspring, and for all who joined them. They did not neglect to observe^[s] these two days every year as it was written and appointed to them. ²⁸ These days are to be remembered and are to be kept in every generation, and in family, province, and city; and these days of Purim are not to be neglected among the Jews, and their memory shall not come to an end among their offspring.

²⁹ So Queen Esther the daughter of Abihail and Mordecai the Jew wrote in full authority to confirm this second letter of Purim. ³⁰ He sent letters of words of peace and truth to all the Jews, to the one hundred and twenty-seven provinces^[t] of Ahasuerus’ kingdom, ³¹ to establish these days of Purim at their appointed times, just as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther had imposed, and just as they had imposed on themselves and their offspring regulations of the fast and their lament. ³² And the command of Esther established these practices of Purim, and it was written on the scroll.