9 On the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar,^(A) the edict commanded by the king was to be carried out. On this day the enemies of the Jews had hoped to overpower them, but now the tables were turned and the Jews got the upper hand^(B) over those who hated them.^{(C) 2} The Jews assembled in their cities^(D) in all the provinces of King Xerxes to attack those determined to destroy them. No one could stand against them,^(E) because the people of all the other nationalities were afraid of them. ³ And all the nobles of the provinces, the satraps, the governors and the king’s administrators helped the Jews,^(F) because fear of Mordecai had seized them.^{(G) 4} Mordecai^(H) was prominent^(I) in the palace; his reputation spread throughout the provinces, and he became more and more powerful.^(J)

⁵ The Jews struck down all their enemies with the sword, killing and destroying them,^(K) and they did what they pleased to those who hated them. ⁶ In the citadel of Susa, the Jews killed and destroyed five hundred men. ⁷ They also killed Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha, ⁸ Poratha, Adalia, Aridatha, ⁹ Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai and Vaizatha, ¹⁰ the ten sons^(L) of Haman son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews.^(M) But they did not lay their hands on the plunder.^(N)

¹⁵ The Jews in Susa came together on the fourteenth day of the month of Adar, and they put to death in Susa three hundred men, but they did not lay their hands on the plunder.^(A)

¹⁶ Meanwhile, the remainder of the Jews who were in the king’s provinces also assembled to protect themselves and get relief^(B) from their enemies.^(C) They killed seventy-five thousand of them^(D) but did not lay their hands on the plunder.^{(E) 17} This happened on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar, and on the fourteenth they rested and made it a day of feasting^(F) and joy.

The Greatness of Mordecai

10 King Xerxes imposed tribute throughout the empire, to its distant shores.^{(A) 2} And all his acts of power and might, together with a full account of the greatness of Mordecai,^(B) whom the king had promoted,^(C) are they not written in the book of the annals^(D) of the kings of Media and Persia? ³ Mordecai the Jew was second^(E) in rank^(F) to King Xerxes,^(G) preeminent among the Jews, and held in high esteem by his many fellow Jews, because he worked for the good of his people and spoke up for the welfare of all the Jews.^(H)