The day that turned around
1In the twelfth month — the month of Adar — on its thirteenth day, when the king’s word and his decree were to be carried out, on the very day the enemies of the Jews had hoped to master them, it was turned around: the Jews mastered those who hated them. 2The Jews assembled in their cities throughout the provinces of King Ahasuerus to lay hands on those who sought their harm, and no one could stand against them, for the dread of them had fallen on all the peoples. 3All the officials of the provinces, the satraps, the governors and those who did the king’s business supported the Jews, for the dread of Mordecai had fallen on them. 4Mordecai was powerful in the king’s house, and his fame spread through all the provinces; for the man Mordecai kept growing greater. 5So the Jews struck all their enemies with the sword, killing and destroying, and did as they pleased with those who hated them. 6In the citadel of Susa the Jews killed and destroyed five hundred men, 7Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha, 8Poratha, Adalia, Aridatha, 9Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai, Vaizatha — 10the ten sons of Haman son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews — these they killed. But they did not lay a hand on the plunder. 11That day the number of those killed in the citadel of Susa was brought before the king. 12The king said to Queen Esther, “In the citadel of Susa the Jews have killed and destroyed five hundred men, and the ten sons of Haman. What must they have done in the rest of the king’s provinces! Now what is your petition? It will be granted you. What further request do you have? It will be done.” 13Esther said, “If it pleases the king, let the Jews of Susa be allowed tomorrow as well to act under today’s decree; and let the ten sons of Haman be hanged on the pole.” 14The king ordered it to be done. A decree was issued in Susa, and they hanged the ten sons of Haman. 15The Jews of Susa assembled again on the fourteenth day of the month of Adar and killed three hundred men in Susa; but they did not lay a hand on the plunder. 16The rest of the Jews, those in the king’s provinces, assembled and defended their lives. They gained relief from their enemies and killed seventy-five thousand of those who hated them; but they did not lay a hand on the plunder. 17This was on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar; on the fourteenth they rested and made it a day of banqueting and joy. 18But the Jews of Susa had assembled on the thirteenth and on the fourteenth, and they rested on the fifteenth and made it a day of banqueting and joy. 19That is why the Jews of the open country, those who live in the unwalled towns, keep the fourteenth day of the month of Adar as a day of joy and banqueting, a holiday, and of sending portions of food to one another.
The letters that made Purim
20Mordecai wrote these things down and sent letters to all the Jews in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, near and far, 21binding them to keep the fourteenth day of the month of Adar and the fifteenth day, year after year, 22as the days on which the Jews gained relief from their enemies, and as the month that was turned around for them from sorrow to joy and from mourning to a holiday — to make them days of banqueting and joy, of sending portions of food to one another and gifts to the poor. 23So the Jews took upon themselves what they had begun to do, and what Mordecai had written to them. 24For Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had schemed against the Jews to wipe them out, and had cast Pur — that is, the lot — to throw them into panic and destroy them. 25But when it came before the king, he gave orders in writing that the evil scheme Haman had devised against the Jews should come back on his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the pole. 26That is why these days are called Purim, after the name of Pur. Therefore, because of all the words of this letter, and because of what they had seen in this matter and what had befallen them, 27the Jews established and took upon themselves, upon their descendants and upon all who joined them, never to fail to keep these two days as prescribed in writing and at their appointed time, year after year; 28and these days were to be remembered and kept in every generation, by every family, in every province and every city, so that these days of Purim would never pass away among the Jews and their memory would never fade from their descendants. 29Then Queen Esther, Abihail’s daughter, together with Mordecai the Jew, wrote with all their authority to give force to this second letter about Purim. 30Letters were sent to all the Jews, to the one hundred and twenty-seven provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, with words of peace and truth, 31to confirm these days of Purim at their appointed times, as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther had prescribed for them, and as they had prescribed for themselves and for their descendants, in the matter of the fasts and their lamentation. 32Esther’s command settled these matters of Purim, and it was recorded in the book.
