The In-Dept Study of the Bible
Esther 09
1 Now in the twelfth month, which is the
month Adar, on the thirteenth day of the
month, when the king’s commandment
and his decree came near to be put in execution, on the day that the enemies of the
Jews hoped to conquer them, (butitturned
out that the opposite happened, that the
Jews conquered those who hated them),
2 the Jews gathered themselves together
in their cities throughout all the provinces
of the King Ahasuerus, to lay hands on
those who wanted to harm them. No one
could withstand them, because the fear of
them had fallen on all the people.
3 All the princes of the provinces, the
local governors, the governors, and those
who did the king’s business helped the
Jews, because the fear of Mordecai had
fallen on them.
4 For Mordecai was great in the king’s
house, and his fame went out throughout
all the provinces, for the man Mordecai
grew greater and greater.
5 The Jews struck all their enemies with
the stroke ofthe sword, and with slaughter
anddestruction, anddid whatthey wanted
to those who hated them.
6 In the citadel of Susa, the Jews killed
and destroyed five hundred men.
7 They killedParshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha,
8 Poratha, Adalia, Aridatha,
9 Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai, and Vaizatha,
10 the ten sons of Haman the son of
Hammedatha, the Jews’ enemy, but they
didn’t lay their hand on the plunder.
11 On that day, the number of those
who were slain in the citadel of Susa was
brought before the king.
12 The king said to Esther the queen,
“The Jews have slain and destroyed five
hundred men in the citadel of Susa, including the ten sons of Haman; what then
have they done in the rest of the king’s
provinces! Now what is your petition? It
shall be granted you. What is your further
request? It shall be done.”
13 Then Esther said, “If it pleases the
king, let it be granted to the Jews who are
in Susa to do tomorrow also according to
today’s decree, and letHaman’s tensons be
hanged on the gallows.”
14 The king commanded this to be done.
A decree was given out in Susa; and they
hanged Haman’s ten sons.
15 The Jews who were in Susa gathered
themselves together on the fourteenth day
also of the month Adar, and killed three
hundred men in Susa; but they didn’t lay
their hand on the plunder.
16 The other Jews who were in the king’s
provinces gathered themselves together,
defended their lives, had rest from their
enemies, and killed seventy-five thousand
of those who hated them; but they didn’t
lay their hand on the plunder.
17 This was done on the thirteenth day of
the month Adar; and on the fourteenth day
ofthatmonththey rested andmade it a day
of feasting and gladness.
18 But the Jews who were in Susa assembled together on the thirteenth and on the
fourteenth days of the month; and on the
fifteenth day of that month, they rested,
and made it a day of feasting and gladness.
19 Therefore the Jews ofthe villages, who
live in the unwalled towns, make the fourteenth day of
the month Adar a day of gladness and feasting, a holiday, and a day
of sending presents of food to one another.
20 Mordecai wrote these things, and sent
letters to all the Jews who were in all
the provinces of the King Ahasuerus, both
near and far,
21 to enjoin them that they should keep
the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the
month Adar yearly,
22 as the days in which the Jews had
rest from their enemies, and the month
which was turned to them from sorrow
to gladness, and from mourning into a
holiday; that they should make them days
of feasting and gladness, and of sending
presents of food to one another, and gifts
to the needy.
23 The Jews accepted the custom that
they had begun, as Mordecai had written
to them,
24 because Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of all the
Jews, had plotted against the Jews to destroy them, and had cast “Pur”, that is the
lot, to consume them and to destroy them;
25 but when this became known to
the king, he commanded by letters that
his wicked plan, which he had planned
against the Jews, should return on his own
head, and that he and his sons should be
hanged on the gallows.
26 Therefore they called these days
“Purim”,† from the word “Pur.” Therefore
because of all the words of this letter, and
of that which they had seen concerning
this matter, and that which had come to
them,
27 the Jews established and imposed on
themselves, on their descendants, and on
all those who joined themselves to them,
so that it should not fail that they would
keep these two days according to what
was written and according to its appointed
time every year;
28 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
their memory perish from their offspring.‡
29 Then Esther the queen, the daughter
of Abihail, and Mordecai the Jew wrote
with all authority to confirm this second
letter of Purim.
30 He sent letters to all the Jews in
the hundred twenty-seven provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus with words of
peace and truth,
31 to confirm these days of Purim in their
appointed times, as Mordecai the Jew and
Esther the queen had decreed, and as they
had imposed upon themselves and their
descendants in the matter of the fastings
and their mourning.
32 The commandment of Esther confirmed these matters of Purim; and it was
written in the book.