Greek Esther 9:1-17

Common English Bible

The fateful day

9 On the thirteenth day of the twelfth month (that is, the month of Adar^[a]), the letters written by the king were to be enforced. ² On that day, the Jews’ enemies perished. Out of fear for the Jews, no one stood in their way. ³ All the leaders of the provinces, the governors, and those in charge of the king’s business respected the Jews. They were afraid of Mordecai, ⁴ because the king decreed that Mordecai’s name was to be honored throughout the kingdom.^{[b] 6} In the city of Susa, the Jews killed five hundred people. ⁷ They also killed Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha, ⁸ Poratha, Adalia, Aridatha, ⁹ Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai, and Vaizatha, ¹⁰ and they plundered their houses. These were the ten sons of Haman the enemy of the Jews, the son of Hammedatha, a Bougaean.

¹¹ That same day, a report concerning the number killed in Susa reached the king that it was five hundred people. ¹² So the king said to Esther in the city of Susa, “The Jews have killed five hundred people in Susa as well as the ten sons of Haman. What have they done in the rest of the royal provinces? What more do you wish now? I’ll give it to you.”

¹³ Esther said to the king, “Give the Jews leave to do likewise tomorrow so that they may hang Haman’s ten sons.” ¹⁴ The king ordered that this be done, and he allowed the Jews in the city to hang the bodies of Haman’s ten sons.

¹⁵ The Jews in Susa joined together again on the fourteenth day of Adar.^[c] They killed three hundred people, but they didn’t take anything the people owned. ¹⁶ The rest of the Jews throughout the kingdom also came together and helped each other. They found rest from their enemies, for they had destroyed fifteen thousand of them on the thirteenth of Adar, and they didn’t take anything their enemies owned. ¹⁷ They rested on the fourteenth day of the same month. They spent it as a day of rest, with joy and celebration.