The Feast of Purim Inaugurated

¹⁸ But the Jews who were in Susa gathered on the thirteenth day and on the fourteenth and rested on the fifteenth day, making that a day of feasting and gladness.^(A)

⁵⁶ So they celebrated the dedication of the altar for eight days and joyfully offered burnt offerings; they offered a sacrifice of well-being and a thanksgiving offering.^(A)

⁶ They celebrated it for eight days with rejoicing, in the manner of the Festival of Booths,^[a] remembering how not long before, during the Festival of Booths,^[b] they had been wandering in the mountains and caves like wild animals.^(A)

³⁶ And they all decreed by public vote never to let this day go unobserved but to celebrate the thirteenth day of the twelfth month—which is called Adar in the Aramaic language—the day before Mordecai’s day.^(A)