²⁸ All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father spoke to them. And he blessed them; he blessed each one according to his own blessing.

^4 (A)And I heard the number of those who were sealed. ^(B)One hundred and forty-four thousand ^(C)of all the tribes of the children of Israel were sealed:

⁷ To this promise ^(A)our twelve tribes, earnestly serving God ^(B)night and day, ^(C)hope to attain. For this hope’s sake, King Agrippa, I am accused by the Jews.

^8 (A)Surely it is coming, and it shall be done,” says the Lord God. “This is the day ^(B)of which I have spoken.

⁹ “Then those who dwell in the cities of Israel will go out and set on fire and burn the weapons, both the shields and bucklers, the bows and arrows, the ^[a]javelins and spears; and they will make fires with them for seven years. ¹⁰ They will not take wood from the field nor cut down any from the forests, because they will make fires with the weapons; ^(C)and they will plunder those who plundered them, and pillage those who pillaged them,” says the Lord God.

The Jews Destroy Their Tormentors

9 Now ^(A)in the twelfth month, that is, the month of Adar, on the thirteenth day, ^(B)the time came for the king’s command and his decree to be executed. On the day that the enemies of the Jews had hoped to overpower them, the opposite occurred, in that the Jews themselves ^(C)overpowered those who hated them. ² The Jews ^(D)gathered together in their cities throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus to lay hands on those who ^(E)sought their harm. And no one could withstand them, ^(F)because fear of them fell upon all people. ³ And all the officials of the provinces, the satraps, the governors, and all those doing the king’s work, helped the Jews, because the fear of Mordecai fell upon them. ⁴ For Mordecai was great in the king’s palace, and his fame spread throughout all the provinces; for this man Mordecai ^(G)became increasingly prominent. ⁵ Thus the Jews defeated all their enemies with the stroke of the sword, with slaughter and destruction, and did what they pleased with those who hated them.

⁶ And in ^(H)Shushan^[a] the ^[b]citadel the Jews killed and destroyed five hundred men. ⁷ Also Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha, ⁸ Poratha, Adalia, Aridatha, ⁹ Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai, and Vajezatha— ^10 (I)the ten sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews—they killed; ^(J)but they did not lay a hand on the ^[c]plunder.

¹¹ By these letters the king permitted the Jews who were in every city to ^(A)gather together and protect their lives—to ^(B)destroy, kill, and annihilate all the forces of any people or province that would assault them, both little children and women, and to plunder their possessions,

^9 (A)So the king’s scribes were called at that time, in the third month, which is the month of Sivan, on the twenty-third day; and it was written, according to all that Mordecai commanded, to the Jews, the satraps, the governors, and the princes of the provinces ^(B)from India to Ethiopia, one hundred and twenty-seven provinces in all, to every province ^(C)in its own script, to every people in their own language, and to the Jews in their own script and language.

⁷ Then King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther and Mordecai the Jew, “Indeed, ^(A)I have given Esther the house of Haman, and they have hanged him on the gallows because he tried to lay his hand on the Jews.

³¹ And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had come, saying, ^(A)“Israel shall be your name.”