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;)
9:2 The Jews assembled 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.
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.
9:4 For Mordecai [was] great in the king's house, and his fame
went out throughout all the provinces: for this man Mordecai
became greater and greater.
9:5 Thus the Jews smote all their enemies with the stroke of the
sword, and slaughter, and destruction, and did what they would
to those that hated them.
9:6 And in Shushan the palace the Jews slew and destroyed five
hundred men.
9:7 And Parshandatha, and Dalphon, and Aspatha,
9:8 And Poratha, and Adalia, and Aridatha,
9:9 And Parmashta, and Arisai, and Aridai, and Vajezatha,
9:10 The ten sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the enemy of
the Jews, they slew; but on the spoil they laid not their hand.
9:11 On that day the number of those that were slain in Shushan
the palace was brought before the king.
9:12 And the king said to 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.
9:13 Then said Esther, If it shall please the king, let it be
granted to the Jews who [are] in Shushan to do to-morrow also
according to this day's decree, and let Haman's ten sons be
hanged upon the gallows.
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.
9:15 For the Jews that [were] in Shushan assembled 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.
9:16 But the other Jews that [were] in the king's provinces
assembled, 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.)
9:17 On the thirteenth day of the month Adar; and on the
fourteenth day of the same they rested, and made it a day of
feasting and gladness.
9:18 But the Jews that [were] at Shushan assembled on the
thirteenth [day] of the month, and on the fourteenth of it: and
on the fifteenth [day] of the same they rested, and made it a
day of feasting and gladness.
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.
9:20 And Mordecai wrote these things, and sent letters to all
the Jews that [were] in all the provinces of the king
Ahasuerus, [both] nigh and far,
9:21 To establish [this] among them, that they should keep the
fourteenth day of the month Adar, and the fifteenth day of the
same, yearly,
9:22 As the days in which the Jews rested from their enemies,
and the month which was turned to 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.
9:23 And the Jews undertook to do as they had begun, and as
Mordecai had written to them;
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;
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.
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
to them,
9:27 The Jews ordained, and took upon them, and upon their seed,
and upon all such as joined themselves to 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;
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.
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.
9:30 And he sent the letters to all the Jews, to the hundred
twenty and seven provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, [with]
words of peace and truth,
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.
9:32 And the decree of Esther confirmed these matters of Purim;
and it was written in the book.
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