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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