Now in the twelfth month, that is the month Adar, on the thirteenth day of the
same, when the king's commandment and his decree drew near to be put in execution,
in the day that the enemies of the Jews hoped to have power over them,
though it was turned to the contrary, that the Jews had rule over them that
hated them, the Jews gathered themselves together in their cities, throughout all
the provinces of the king Ahasuerus, to lay hand on such as sought their hurt.
And no man could withstand them, for the fear of them fell upon all people.
And all the rulers of the provinces, and the lieutenants, and the deputies,
and officers of the king, helped the Jews, because the fear of Mordecai fell upon
them.
For Mordecai was great in the king's house, and his fame went out throughout
all the provinces.
For this man Mordecai waxed greater and greater.
Thus the Jews smote all their enemies with the stroke of the sword, and slaughter,
and destruction, and did what they would unto those that hated them.
And in Shushan the palace, the Jews slew and destroyed five hundred men.
And for Shandatha, and Dalphon, and Aspatha, and Porathah, and Adalia,
and Aradathah, and Parmashtah, and Eresai, and Eredi, and for Jezathah,
the ten sons of Haman, the son of Hamadathah, the enemy of the Jews,
slew they.
But on the spoil laid they not their hand.
On that day the number of those that were slain in Shushan the palace was brought
before the king.
And the king said unto Esther the queen, The Jews have slain and destroyed five
hundred men in Shushan the palace, and the ten sons of Haman.
What have they done in the rest of the king's provinces?
Now what is thy petition?
And it shall be granted thee.
Or what is thy request further?
And it shall be done.
Then said Esther, If it please the king, let it be granted to the Jews which are in
Shushan to do tomorrow also according unto this day's decree, and let Haman's ten
sons be hanged upon the gallows.
And the king commanded it so to be done.
And the decree was given at Shushan, and they hanged Haman's ten sons.
For the Jews that were in Shushan gathered themselves together on the fourteenth day
also of the month Adar, and slew three hundred men at Shushan.
But on the prey they laid not their hand.
But the other Jews that were in the king's provinces gathered themselves together,
and stood for their lives, and had rest from their enemies, and slew of their foes
seventy and five thousand.
But they laid not their hands on the prey on the thirteenth day of the month Adar.
And on the fourteenth day of the same rested they, and made it a day of feasting
and gladness.
But the Jews that were at Shushan assembled together on the thirteenth day
thereof, and on the fourteenth thereof, and on the fifteenth day of the same,
they rested, and made it a day of feasting and gladness.
Therefore the Jews of the villages that dwelt in the unwalled towns made the
fourteenth day of the month Adar a day of gladness and feasting and a good day,
and of sending portions one to another.
And Mordecai wrote these things, and sent letters unto all the Jews that
were in all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus, both nigh and far, to establish
this among them, that they should keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar and the
fifteenth day of the same yearly, as the days wherein the Jews rested from
their enemies, and the month which was turned unto them from sorrow to joy,
and from mourning into a good day, that they should make them days of
feasting and joy, and of sending portions one to another, and gifts to the poor.
And the Jews undertook to do as they had begun, and as Mordecai had written unto
them.
Because Haman the son of Hamadatha the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews,
had devised against the Jews to destroy them, and had cast pure, that is,
the lot, to consume them, and to destroy them.
But when Esther came before the king, he commanded by letters that his wicked
device, which he had devised against the Jews, should return upon his own head,
and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows.
Wherefore they called these days Purim, after the name of pure.
Therefore for all the words of this letter, and of that which they had seen
concerning this matter, and which had come unto them, the Jews ordained, and took
upon them, and upon their seed, and upon all such as joined themselves
unto them, so as it should not fail, that they would keep these two days
according to their writing, and according to their appointed time every year,
and that these days should be remembered, and kept throughout every generation,
every family, every province, and every city, and that these days of Purim should
not fail from among the Jews, nor the memorial of them perish from their seed.
Then Esther the queen, the daughter of Abahel, and Mordecai the Jew, wrote with
all authority to confirm this second letter of Purim.
And he sent the letters unto all the Jews, to the hundred twenty and seven provinces
of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, with words of peace and truth, to confirm these days of
Purim in their times appointed, according as Mordecai the Jew and Esther
the queen had enjoined them, and as they had decreed for themselves and for their
seed, the matters of the fastings and their cry.
And the decree of Esther confirmed these matters of Purim, and it was written in
the book.