²⁴ For Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite,^(A) the enemy of all the Jews, had plotted against the Jews to destroy them and had cast the pur^(B) (that is, the lot^(C)) for their ruin and destruction.^{(D) 25} But when the plot came to the king’s attention,^[a] he issued written orders that the evil scheme Haman had devised against the Jews should come back onto his own head,^(E) and that he and his sons should be impaled^(F) on poles.^{(G) 26} (Therefore these days were called Purim, from the word pur.^(H)) Because of everything written in this letter and because of what they had seen and what had happened to them, ²⁷ the Jews took it on themselves to establish the custom that they and their descendants and all who join them should without fail observe these two days every year, in the way prescribed and at the time appointed. ²⁸ These days should be remembered and observed in every generation by every family, and in every province and in every city. And these days of Purim should never fail to be celebrated by the Jews—nor should the memory of these days die out among their descendants.