Esther 9:20-28

New American Standard Bible

The Feast of Purim Instituted

²⁰ Then Mordecai recorded these events, and he sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far, ²¹ obliging them to celebrate the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and the fifteenth day ^[a]of the same month, annually, ²² because on those days the Jews ^[b]rid themselves of their enemies, and it was a month which was ^(A)turned for them from grief into joy, and from mourning into a ^[c]holiday; that they were to make them days of feasting and rejoicing, and ^(B)sending portions of food to one another, and gifts to the poor.

²³ So the Jews undertook what they had started to do, and what Mordecai had written to them. ²⁴ For Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the adversary of all the Jews, had schemed against the Jews to eliminate them, and ^(C)had cast Pur, that is the lot, to disturb them and eliminate them. ²⁵ But ^(D)when it came ^[d]to the king’s attention, he commanded by letter ^(E)that his wicked scheme which he had devised against the Jews ^(F)was to return on his own head, and that he and his sons were to be hanged on the wooden gallows. ²⁶ Therefore they called these days Purim after the name of ^[e]Pur. ^[f]And ^(G)because of the instructions in this letter, both what they had seen in this regard and what had happened to them, ²⁷ the Jews established and ^[g]made a custom for themselves, their ^[h]descendants, and for ^(H)all those who allied themselves with them, so that ^[i]they would not fail ^(I)to celebrate these two days according to their ^[j]regulation and according to their appointed time annually. ²⁸ So these days were to be remembered and celebrated throughout every generation, every family, every province, and every city; and these days of Purim were not to ^[k]be neglected by the Jews, or their memory ^[l]fade from their ^[m]descendants.