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.

²³ So the Jews agreed to continue the practice they had begun, as Mordecai had written them to do. ²⁴ For Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews,^(AF) had plotted against the Jews to destroy them. He cast the pur—that is, the lot—to crush and destroy them.^{(AG) 25} But when the matter was brought before the king,^(AH) he commanded by letter that the evil plan Haman had devised against the Jews return on his own head^(AI) and that he should be hanged with his sons on the gallows.^{(AJ) 26} For this reason these days are called Purim, from the word pur.^(AK) Because of all the instructions in this letter as well as what they had witnessed and what had happened to them, ²⁷ the Jews bound themselves, their descendants, and all who joined^(AL) with them to a commitment that they would not fail to celebrate these two days each and every year according to the written instructions and according to the time appointed. ²⁸ These days are remembered and celebrated by every generation, family, province, and city, so that these days of Purim will not lose their significance in Jewish life^[e] and their memory will not fade from their descendants.^(AM)

²⁹ Queen Esther, daughter of Abihail,^(AN) along with Mordecai the Jew,^(AO) wrote this second letter with full authority^(AP) to confirm the letter about Purim. ³⁰ He sent letters with assurances of peace and security^[f] to all the Jews who were in the 127 provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, ³¹ in order to confirm these days of Purim at their proper time just as Mordecai the Jew and Esther the queen had established them and just as they had committed themselves and their descendants to the practices of fasting^(AQ) and lamentation.^{(AR) 32} So Esther’s command confirmed these customs of Purim, which were then written into the record.

Mordecai’s Fame

10 King Ahasuerus imposed a tax throughout the land^(AS) even to the farthest shores.^{[g](AT) 2} All of his powerful and magnificent accomplishments^(AU) and the detailed account of Mordecai’s great rank with which the king had honored him,^(AV) have they not been written in the Book of the Historical Events of the Kings of Media and Persia?^{(AW) 3} Mordecai the Jew was second only to King Ahasuerus.^(AX) He was famous among the Jews and highly esteemed by many of his relatives.^(AY) He continued to pursue prosperity for his people and to speak for the well-being of all his descendants.^(AZ)

The Riot in Ephesus

²¹ After these events, Paul resolved by the Spirit^[a] to pass through Macedonia and Achaia and go to Jerusalem. “After I’ve been there,” he said, “It is necessary for me to see Rome as well.”^{(A) 22} After sending to Macedonia two of those who assisted him, Timothy and Erastus,^(B) he himself stayed in Asia for a while.^(C)

²³ About that time there was a major disturbance about the Way.^{(D) 24} For a person named Demetrius, a silversmith who made silver shrines of Artemis, provided a great deal of business for the craftsmen. ²⁵ When he had assembled them, as well as the workers engaged in this type of business, he said, “Men, you know that our prosperity is derived from this business. ²⁶ You see and hear that not only in Ephesus, but in almost all of Asia, this man Paul has persuaded and misled a considerable number of people by saying that gods made by hand are not gods.^{(E) 27} Not only do we run a risk that our business may be discredited, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis may be despised and her magnificence come to the verge of ruin—the very one all of Asia and the world worship.”

²⁸ When they had heard this, they were filled with rage and began to cry out, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” ²⁹ So the city was filled with confusion, and they rushed all together into the amphitheater, dragging along Gaius^(F) and Aristarchus,^(G) Macedonians who were Paul’s traveling companions. ³⁰ Although Paul wanted to go in before the people, the disciples did not let him. ³¹ Even some of the provincial officials of Asia, who were his friends, sent word to him, pleading with him not to venture^[b] into the amphitheater. ³² Some were shouting one thing and some another,^(H) because the assembly was in confusion, and most of them did not know why they had come together. ³³ Some Jews in the crowd gave instructions to Alexander^[c] after they pushed him to the front. Motioning with his hand, Alexander wanted to make his defense to the people.^{(I) 34} But when they recognized that he was a Jew, they all shouted in unison for about two hours, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”

³⁵ When the city clerk had calmed the crowd down, he said, “People of Ephesus! What person is there who doesn’t know that the city of the Ephesians is the temple guardian of the great^[d] Artemis, and of the image that fell from heaven? ³⁶ Therefore, since these things are undeniable, you must keep calm and not do anything rash. ³⁷ For you have brought these men here who are not temple robbers or blasphemers of our^[e] goddess. ³⁸ So if Demetrius and the craftsmen who are with him have a case against anyone, the courts are in session, and there are proconsuls. Let them bring charges against one another.^{(J) 39} But if you seek anything further, it must be decided in a legal assembly. ⁴⁰ In fact, we run a risk of being charged with rioting^(K) for what happened today, since there is no justification that we can give as a reason for this disturbance.” ⁴¹ After saying this, he dismissed the assembly.

Psalm 88

A Cry of Desperation

A song. A psalm of the sons of Korah. For the choir director: according to Mahalath Leannoth. A Maskil of Heman the Ezrahite.^(A)