Esther 9
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3 4 5
6 7 8
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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;)
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.
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.
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.
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.
6 And in Shushan the palace the Jews slew
and destroyed five hundred men.
7 And Parshandatha, and Dalphon, and
Aspatha,
8 And Poratha, and Adalia, and Aridatha,
9 And Parmashta, and Arisai, and Aridai,
and Vajezatha,
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.
11 On that day the number of those that
were slain in Shushan the palace was brought before the king.
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.
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.
14 And the king commanded it so to be
done: and the decree was given at Shushan; and they hanged Haman’s ten sons.
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.
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,
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.
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.
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.
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,
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,
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.
23 And the Jews undertook to do as they
had begun, and as Mordecai had written unto them;
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;
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.
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,
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;
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.
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 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,
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.
32 And the decree of Esther confirmed
these matters of Purim; and it was written in the book.
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