ES-9:1 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;)

ES-9:2 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.

ES-9:3 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.

ES-9:4 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.

ES-9:5 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.

ES-9:6 And in Shushan the palace the Jews slew and destroyed

five hundred men.

ES-9:7 And Parshandatha, and Dalphon, and Aspatha,

ES-9:8 And Poratha, and Adalia, and Aridatha,

ES-9:9 And Parmashta, and Arisai, and Aridai, and Vajezatha,

ES-9:10 The ten sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the enemy

of the Jews, slew they; but on the spoil laid they not their

hand.

ES-9:11 On that day the number of those that were slain in

Shushan the palace was brought before the king.

ES-9:12 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.

ES-9:13 Then said Esther, If it please the king, let it be

granted to the Jews which [are] in Shushan to do to morrow also

according unto this day's decree, and let Haman's ten sons be

hanged upon the gallows.

ES-9:14 And the king commanded it so to be done: and the decree

was given at Shushan; and they hanged Haman's ten sons.

ES-9:15 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.

ES-9:16 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,

ES-9:17 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.

ES-9:18 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.

ES-9:19 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.

ES-9:20 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,

ES-9:21 To stablish [this] among them, that they should keep the

fourteenth day of the month Adar, and the fifteenth day of the

same, yearly,

ES-9:22 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.

ES-9:23 And the Jews undertook to do as they had begun, and as

Mordecai had written unto them;

ES-9:24 Because Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the

enemy of all the Jews, had devised against the Jews to destroy

them, and had cast Pur, that [is], the lot, to consume them, and

to destroy them;

ES-9:25 But when [Esther] came before the king, he commanded by

letters that his wicked device, which he devised against the

Jews, should return upon his own head, and that he and his sons

should be hanged on the gallows.

ES-9:26 Wherefore they called these days Purim after the name of

Pur. Therefore for all the words of this letter, and [of that]

which they had seen concerning this matter, and which had come

unto them,

ES-9:27 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;

ES-9:28 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 the memorial of them perish from their seed.

ES-9:29 Then Esther the queen, the daughter of Abihail, and

Mordecai the Jew, wrote with all authority, to confirm this

second letter of Purim.

ES-9:30 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,

ES-9:31 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.

ES-9:32 And the decree of Esther confirmed these matters of

Purim; and it was written in the book. 

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