²⁰ Mordekhai recorded these events and sent letters to all the Jews in all the provinces of King Achashverosh, both near and far, ²¹ instructing them to observe the fourteenth day of the month of Adar and the fifteenth day, every year, ²² [to commemorate] the days on which the Jews obtained rest from their enemies and the month which for them was turned from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a holiday; they were to make them days of celebrating and rejoicing, sending portions [of food] to each other and giving gifts to the poor.