¹⁸ But the Jews who were in Susa ^(A)assembled on the thirteenth and ^(B)the fourteenth ^[a]of the same month, and they rested on the fifteenth ^[b]day and made it a day of feasting and gladness. ¹⁹ Therefore the Jews of the rural areas, who live in ^(C)the rural towns, make the fourteenth day of the month Adar a ^[c](D)holiday for gladness and feasting and ^(E)sending portions of food to one another.

The Feast of Purim Is Established

²⁰ Then Mordecai wrote down these events, and he sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far, ²¹ to establish among them to celebrate the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and the fifteenth day ^[d]of the same month, annually, ²² because on those days the Jews obtained rest for themselves from their enemies, and it was a month which was ^(F)turned around for them from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a ^[e]holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and gladness and ^(G)sending portions of food to one another and gifts to the poor.

²³ Thus the Jews fully accepted what they had started to do and what Mordecai had written to them. ²⁴ For Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the adversary of all the Jews, had devised against the Jews to cause them to perish and ^(H)had cast Pur, that is the lot, to throw them into confusion and cause them to perish. ²⁵ But ^(I)when it came before the king, he said by letter ^(J)that his evil scheme, which he had ^[f]devised against the Jews, ^(K)should return on his own head and that he and his sons should be hanged on the ^[g]gallows. ²⁶ Therefore they called these days Purim after the name of Pur. Therefore, ^(L)because of the words in this letter, both what they had seen in this regard and what had reached them, ²⁷ the Jews established and accepted a custom for themselves and for their seed and for ^(M)all those who joined themselves to them, so that ^[h](N)celebrating these two days according to what was written down and according to their fixed time from year to year would not pass away. ²⁸ So these days were to be remembered and celebrated throughout every generation, every family, every province, and every city; thus these days of Purim were not to pass away from among the Jews, nor their memory come to an end from their seed.

²⁹ Then Queen Esther, ^(O)daughter of Abihail, with Mordecai the Jew, wrote with full authority to establish ^(P)this second letter about Purim. ³⁰ And he sent letters to all the Jews, ^(Q)to the 127 provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, namely, words of peace and truth, ³¹ to establish these days of Purim at their appointed times, just as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther had established for them, and just as they had established for themselves and for their seed with words concerning ^(R)their times of fasting and their crying out. ³² And the declaration of Esther established these words concerning ^(S)Purim, and it was written in the book.