(Chapter 8)

¹³ A copy of the letter to be promulgated as law in each and every province was published among all the peoples, so that the Jews might be prepared on that day to avenge themselves on their enemies. ¹⁴ Couriers mounted on royal steeds sped forth in haste at the king’s order, and the decree was promulgated in the royal precinct of Susa.

¹⁵ Mordecai left the king’s presence clothed in a royal robe of violet and of white cotton, with a large crown of gold and a mantle of fine crimson linen. The city of Susa shouted with joy,^{(A) 16} and for the Jews there was splendor and gladness, joy and triumph. ¹⁷ In each and every province and in each and every city, wherever the king’s order arrived, there was merriment and joy, banqueting and feasting for the Jews. And many of the peoples of the land identified themselves as Jews, for fear of the Jews fell upon them.^(B)

Chapter 9

The Massacre Reversed. ^1 (C)When the day arrived on which the order decreed by the king was to be carried out, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, Adar, on which the enemies of the Jews had expected to overpower them, the situation was reversed: the Jews overpowered those who hated them. ² The Jews mustered in their cities throughout the provinces of King Ahasuerus to attack those who sought to do them harm, and no one could withstand them, for fear of them fell upon all the peoples. ³ Moreover, all the officials of the provinces, the satraps, governors, and royal procurators supported the Jews out of fear of Mordecai; ⁴ for Mordecai was powerful in the royal palace, and the report was spreading through all the provinces that he was continually growing in power.

⁵ The Jews struck down all their enemies with the sword, killing and destroying them; they did to those who hated them as they pleased.^{(D) 6 (E)}In the royal precinct of Susa, the Jews killed and destroyed five hundred people. ⁷ They also killed Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha, ⁸ Poratha, Adalia, Aridatha, ⁹ Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai, and Vaizatha, ^10 (F)the ten sons of Haman, son of Hammedatha, the foe of the Jews. However, they did not engage in plundering.

¹¹ On the same day, when the number of those killed in the royal precinct of Susa was reported to the king, ¹² he said to Queen Esther: “In the royal precinct of Susa the Jews have killed and destroyed five hundred people, as well as the ten sons of Haman. What must they have done in the other royal provinces! You shall again be granted whatever you ask, and whatever you request shall be honored.” ¹³ So Esther said, “If it pleases your majesty, let the Jews in Susa be permitted again tomorrow to act according to today’s decree, and let the ten sons of Haman be impaled on stakes.” ¹⁴ The king then gave an order that this be done, and the decree was published in Susa. So the ten sons of Haman were impaled,^{(G) 15} and the Jews in Susa mustered again on the fourteenth of the month of Adar and killed three hundred people in Susa. However, they did not engage in plundering.^(H)

¹⁶ The other Jews, who dwelt in the royal provinces, also mustered and defended themselves, and obtained rest from their enemies. They killed seventy-five thousand of those who hated them, but they did not engage in plunder.^{(I) 17} This happened on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar.

The Feast of Purim.^[a] On the fourteenth of the month they rested, and made it a day of feasting and rejoicing.

¹⁸ The Jews in Susa, however, mustered on the thirteenth and fourteenth of the month. But on the fifteenth they rested, and made it a day of joyful banqueting. ¹⁹ That is why the rural Jews, who dwell in villages, celebrate the fourteenth of the month of Adar as a day of joyful banqueting, a holiday on which they send food to one another.

²⁰ Mordecai recorded these events and sent letters to all the Jews, both near and far, in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus. ^21 [b]He ordered them to celebrate every year both the fourteenth and the fifteenth of the month of Adar ²² as the days on which the Jews obtained rest from their enemies and as the month which was turned for them from sorrow into joy, from mourning into celebration. They were to observe these days with joyful banqueting, sending food to one another and gifts to the poor. ^23 [c]The Jews adopted as a custom what they had begun doing and what Mordecai had written to them.^(J)