9Esther 9

The Jews Destroy Their Enemies

1The thirteenth day of Adar came, the day on which the royal proclamation was to take effect, the day when the enemies of the Jews were hoping to get them in their power. But instead, the Jews triumphed over them.Select Esther 9:1

2In the Jewish quarter of every city in the empire the Jews organized to attack anyone who tried to harm them. People everywhere were afraid of them, and no one could stand against them.Select Esther 9:2

3In fact, all the provincial officials—governors, administrators, and royal representatives—helped the Jews because they were all afraid of Mordecai.Select Esther 9:3

4It was well-known throughout the empire that Mordecai was now a powerful man in the palace and was growing more powerful.Select Esther 9:4

5So the Jews could do what they wanted with their enemies. They attacked them with swords and slaughtered them.Select Esther 9:5

6In Susa, the capital city itself, the Jews killed five hundred people.Select Esther 9:6

10Among them were the ten sons of Haman son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews: Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha, Poratha, Adalia, Aridatha, Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai, and Vaizatha. However, there was no looting.Select Esther 9:10

11That same day the number of people killed in Susa was reported to the king.Select Esther 9:11

12He then said to Queen Esther, “In Susa alone the Jews have killed five hundred people, including Haman's ten sons. What must they have done out in the provinces! What do you want now? You shall have it. Tell me what else you want, and you shall have it.”Select Esther 9:12

13Esther answered, “If it please Your Majesty, let the Jews in Susa do again tomorrow what they were allowed to do today. And have the bodies of Haman's ten sons hung from the gallows.”Select Esther 9:13

14The king ordered this to be done, and the proclamation was issued in Susa. The bodies of Haman's ten sons were publicly displayed.Select Esther 9:14

15On the fourteenth day of Adar the Jews of Susa got together again and killed three hundred more people in the city. But again, they did no looting.Select Esther 9:15

16The Jews in the provinces also organized and defended themselves. They rid themselves of their enemies by killing seventy-five thousand people who hated them. But they did no looting.Select Esther 9:16

17This was on the thirteenth day of Adar. On the next day, the fourteenth, there was no more killing, and they made it a joyful day of feasting.Select Esther 9:17

18The Jews of Susa, however, made the fifteenth a holiday, since they had slaughtered their enemies on the thirteenth and fourteenth and then stopped on the fifteenth.Select Esther 9:18

19This is why Jews who live in small towns observe the fourteenth day of the month of Adar as a joyous holiday, a time for feasting and giving gifts of food to one another.Select Esther 9:19

The Festival of Purim

20Mordecai had these events written down and sent letters to all the Jews, near and far, throughout the Persian Empire,Select Esther 9:20

21telling them to observe the fourteenth and fifteenth days of Adar as holidays every year.Select Esther 9:21

22These were the days on which the Jews had rid themselves of their enemies; this was a month that had been turned from a time of grief and despair into a time of joy and happiness. They were told to observe these days with feasts and parties, giving gifts of food to one another and to the poor.Select Esther 9:22

23So the Jews followed Mordecai's instructions, and the celebration became an annual custom.Select Esther 9:23

24Haman son of Hammedatha—the descendant of Agag and the enemy of the Jewish people—had cast lots (“purim,” they were called) to determine the day for destroying the Jews; he had planned to wipe them out.Select Esther 9:24

25But Esther went to the king, and the king issued written orders with the result that Haman suffered the fate he had planned for the Jews—he and his sons were hanged from the gallows.Select Esther 9:25

26That is why the holidays are called Purim. Because of Mordecai's letter and because of all that had happened to them,Select Esther 9:26

27the Jews made it a rule for themselves, their descendants, and anyone who might become a Jew, that at the proper time each year these two days would be regularly observed according to Mordecai's instructions.Select Esther 9:27

28It was resolved that every Jewish family of every future generation in every province and every city should remember and observe the days of Purim for all time to come.Select Esther 9:28

29Then Queen Esther, the daughter of Abihail, along with Mordecai, also wrote a letter, putting her full authority behind the letter about Purim, which Mordecai had written earlier.Select Esther 9:29

30The letter was addressed to all the Jews, and copies were sent to all the 127 provinces of the Persian Empire. It wished the Jews peace and securitySelect Esther 9:30

31and directed them and their descendants to observe the days of Purim at the proper time, just as they had adopted rules for the observance of fasts and times of mourning. This was commanded by both Mordecai and Queen Esther.Select Esther 9:31

32Esther's command, confirming the rules for Purim, was written down on a scroll.Select Esther 9:32