Victories of the Jews

9 The king’s command and law^(A) went into effect on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month,^(B) the month Adar. On the day when the Jews’ enemies^(C) had hoped to overpower them, just the opposite happened. The Jews overpowered those who hated them.^{(D) 2} In each of King Ahasuerus’s provinces^(E) the Jews assembled in their cities to attack those who intended to harm them.^[a] Not a single person could withstand them; fear of them^(F) fell on every nationality.^(G)

³ All the officials of the provinces, the satraps, the governors, and the royal civil administrators^[b](H) aided the Jews because they feared Mordecai.^{(I) 4} For Mordecai exercised great power in the palace,^(J) and his fame spread throughout the provinces as he became more and more powerful.^(K)

⁵ The Jews put all their enemies to the sword, killing and destroying them.^(L) They did what they pleased to those who hated them. ⁶ In the fortress of Susa^(M) the Jews killed and destroyed five hundred men, ⁷ including Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha, ⁸ Poratha, Adalia, Aridatha, ⁹ Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai, and Vaizatha. ¹⁰ They killed these ten sons^(N) of Haman son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews.^(O) However, they did not seize^[c] any plunder.^(P)

¹¹ On that day the number of people killed in the fortress of Susa was reported to the king. ¹² The king said to Queen Esther, “In the fortress of Susa the Jews have killed and destroyed five hundred men, including Haman’s ten sons. What have they done in the rest of the royal provinces? Whatever you ask will be given to you. Whatever you seek will also be done.”^(Q)

¹³ Esther answered, “If it pleases the king, may the Jews who are in Susa also have tomorrow^(R) to carry out today’s law,^(S) and may the bodies of Haman’s ten sons^(T) be hung on the gallows.”^{(U) 14} The king gave the orders for this to be done, so a law was announced in Susa, and they hung the bodies of Haman’s ten sons. ¹⁵ The Jews in Susa assembled again on the fourteenth day of the month of Adar^(V) and killed three hundred men in Susa, but they did not seize any plunder.^(W)

¹⁶ The rest of the Jews in the royal provinces assembled, defended themselves, and gained relief from their enemies. They killed seventy-five thousand^[d] of those who hated them,^(X) but they did not seize any plunder. ¹⁷ They fought on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar and rested on the fourteenth, and it became a day of feasting and rejoicing.

¹⁸ But the Jews in Susa had assembled on the thirteenth and the fourteenth days of the month. They rested on the fifteenth day of the month, and it became a day of feasting and rejoicing.^{(Y) 19} This explains why the rural Jews who live in villages observe the fourteenth day of the month of Adar as a time of rejoicing and feasting. It is a holiday when they send gifts to one another.^(Z)

²⁰ Mordecai^(AA) recorded these events and sent letters to all the Jews in all of King Ahasuerus’s provinces, both near and far. ²¹ He ordered^(AB) them to celebrate the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month of Adar every year ²² because during those days the Jews gained relief from^(AC) their enemies. That was the month when their sorrow was turned into rejoicing and their mourning into a holiday.^(AD) They were to be days of feasting,^(AE) rejoicing, and of sending gifts to one another and to the poor.

¹⁰ Then he said to them, “Go and eat what is rich, drink what is sweet, and send portions to those who have nothing prepared,^(A) since today^(B) is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, because the joy of the Lord is your strength.”^[a](C)

Mary’s Praise

⁴⁶ And Mary said: