¹⁴ Remember^(A) me for this, my God, and do not blot out what I have so faithfully done for the house of my God and its services.

¹⁵ In those days I saw people in Judah treading winepresses on the Sabbath and bringing in grain and loading it on donkeys, together with wine, grapes, figs and all other kinds of loads. And they were bringing all this into Jerusalem on the Sabbath.^(B) Therefore I warned them against selling food on that day. ¹⁶ People from Tyre who lived in Jerusalem were bringing in fish and all kinds of merchandise and selling them in Jerusalem on the Sabbath^(C) to the people of Judah. ¹⁷ I rebuked the nobles of Judah and said to them, “What is this wicked thing you are doing—desecrating the Sabbath day? ¹⁸ Didn’t your ancestors do the same things, so that our God brought all this calamity on us and on this city?^(D) Now you are stirring up more wrath against Israel by desecrating the Sabbath.”^(E)

¹⁹ When evening shadows fell on the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath,^(F) I ordered the doors to be shut and not opened until the Sabbath was over. I stationed some of my own men at the gates so that no load could be brought in on the Sabbath day. ²⁰ Once or twice the merchants and sellers of all kinds of goods spent the night outside Jerusalem. ²¹ But I warned them and said, “Why do you spend the night by the wall? If you do this again, I will arrest you.” From that time on they no longer came on the Sabbath. ²² Then I commanded the Levites to purify themselves and go and guard the gates in order to keep the Sabbath day holy.

Remember^(G) me for this also, my God, and show mercy to me according to your great love.

²³ Moreover, in those days I saw men of Judah who had married^(H) women from Ashdod, Ammon and Moab.^{(I) 24} Half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod or the language of one of the other peoples, and did not know how to speak the language^(J) of Judah. ²⁵ I rebuked them and called curses down on them. I beat some of the men and pulled out their hair. I made them take an oath^(K) in God’s name and said: “You are not to give your daughters in marriage to their sons, nor are you to take their daughters in marriage for your sons or for yourselves.^{(L) 26} Was it not because of marriages like these that Solomon king of Israel sinned? Among the many nations there was no king like him.^(M) He was loved by his God,^(N) and God made him king over all Israel, but even he was led into sin by foreign women.^{(O) 27} Must we hear now that you too are doing all this terrible wickedness and are being unfaithful to our God by marrying^(P) foreign women?”

²⁸ One of the sons of Joiada son of Eliashib^(Q) the high priest was son-in-law to Sanballat^(R) the Horonite. And I drove him away from me.

²⁹ Remember^(S) them, my God, because they defiled the priestly office and the covenant of the priesthood and of the Levites.^(T)

³⁰ So I purified the priests and the Levites of everything foreign,^(U) and assigned them duties, each to his own task. ³¹ I also made provision for contributions of wood^(V) at designated times, and for the firstfruits.^(W)

Remember^(X) me with favor, my God.

The King’s Edict in Behalf of the Jews

8 That same day King Xerxes gave Queen Esther the estate of Haman,^(A) the enemy of the Jews. And Mordecai came into the presence of the king, for Esther had told how he was related to her. ² The king took off his signet ring,^(B) which he had reclaimed from Haman, and presented it to Mordecai. And Esther appointed him over Haman’s estate.^(C)

³ Esther again pleaded with the king, falling at his feet and weeping. She begged him to put an end to the evil plan of Haman the Agagite,^(D) which he had devised against the Jews. ⁴ Then the king extended the gold scepter^(E) to Esther and she arose and stood before him.

⁵ “If it pleases the king,” she said, “and if he regards me with favor^(F) and thinks it the right thing to do, and if he is pleased with me, let an order be written overruling the dispatches that Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, devised and wrote to destroy the Jews in all the king’s provinces. ⁶ For how can I bear to see disaster fall on my people? How can I bear to see the destruction of my family?”^(G)

⁷ King Xerxes replied to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, “Because Haman attacked the Jews, I have given his estate to Esther, and they have impaled^(H) him on the pole he set up. ⁸ Now write another decree^(I) in the king’s name in behalf of the Jews as seems best to you, and seal^(J) it with the king’s signet ring^(K)—for no document written in the king’s name and sealed with his ring can be revoked.”^(L)

⁹ At once the royal secretaries were summoned—on the twenty-third day of the third month, the month of Sivan. They wrote out all Mordecai’s orders to the Jews, and to the satraps, governors and nobles of the 127 provinces stretching from India to Cush.^[a](M) These orders were written in the script of each province and the language of each people and also to the Jews in their own script and language.^{(N) 10} Mordecai wrote in the name of King Xerxes, sealed the dispatches with the king’s signet ring, and sent them by mounted couriers, who rode fast horses especially bred for the king.

¹¹ The king’s edict granted the Jews in every city the right to assemble and protect themselves; to destroy, kill and annihilate the armed men of any nationality or province who might attack them and their women and children,^[b] and to plunder^(O) the property of their enemies. ¹² The day appointed for the Jews to do this in all the provinces of King Xerxes was the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar.^{(P) 13} A copy of the text of the edict was to be issued as law in every province and made known to the people of every nationality so that the Jews would be ready on that day^(Q) to avenge themselves on their enemies.

¹⁴ The couriers, riding the royal horses, went out, spurred on by the king’s command, and the edict was issued in the citadel of Susa.^(R)

The Triumph of the Jews

¹⁵ When Mordecai^(S) left the king’s presence, he was wearing royal garments of blue and white, a large crown of gold^(T) and a purple robe of fine linen.^(U) And the city of Susa held a joyous celebration.^{(V) 16} For the Jews it was a time of happiness and joy,^(W) gladness and honor.^{(X) 17} In every province and in every city to which the edict of the king came, there was joy^(Y) and gladness among the Jews, with feasting and celebrating. And many people of other nationalities became Jews because fear^(Z) of the Jews had seized them.^(AA)

9 On the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar,^(AB) 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^(AC) over those who hated them.^{(AD) 2} The Jews assembled in their cities^(AE) in all the provinces of King Xerxes to attack those determined to destroy them. No one could stand against them,^(AF) 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,^(AG) because fear of Mordecai had seized them.^{(AH) 4} Mordecai^(AI) was prominent^(AJ) in the palace; his reputation spread throughout the provinces, and he became more and more powerful.^(AK)

⁵ The Jews struck down all their enemies with the sword, killing and destroying them,^(AL) 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^(AM) of Haman son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews.^(AN) But they did not lay their hands on the plunder.^(AO)

¹¹ The number of those killed in the citadel of Susa was reported to the king that same day. ¹² The king said to Queen Esther, “The Jews have killed and destroyed five hundred men and the ten sons of Haman in the citadel of Susa. What have they done in the rest of the king’s provinces? Now what is your petition? It will be given you. What is your request? It will also be granted.”^(AP)

¹³ “If it pleases the king,” Esther answered, “give the Jews in Susa permission to carry out this day’s edict tomorrow also, and let Haman’s ten sons^(AQ) be impaled^(AR) on poles.”

¹⁴ So the king commanded that this be done. An edict was issued in Susa, and they impaled^(AS) the ten sons of Haman. 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.^(AT)

¹⁶ Meanwhile, the remainder of the Jews who were in the king’s provinces also assembled to protect themselves and get relief^(AU) from their enemies.^(AV) They killed seventy-five thousand of them^(AW) but did not lay their hands on the plunder.^{(AX) 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^(AY) and joy.

¹⁸ The Jews in Susa, however, had assembled on the thirteenth and fourteenth, and then on the fifteenth they rested and made it a day of feasting and joy.

¹⁹ That is why rural Jews—those living in villages—observe the fourteenth of the month of Adar^(AZ) as a day of joy and feasting, a day for giving presents to each other.^(BA)

Purim Established

²⁰ Mordecai recorded these events, and he sent letters to all the Jews throughout the provinces of King Xerxes, near and far, ²¹ to have them celebrate annually the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month of Adar ²² as the time when the Jews got relief^(BB) from their enemies, and as the month when their sorrow was turned into joy and their mourning into a day of celebration.^(BC) He wrote them to observe the days as days of feasting and joy and giving presents of food^(BD) to one another and gifts to the poor.^(BE)

²³ So the Jews agreed to continue the celebration they had begun, doing what Mordecai had written to them. ²⁴ For Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite,^(BF) the enemy of all the Jews, had plotted against the Jews to destroy them and had cast the pur^(BG) (that is, the lot^(BH)) for their ruin and destruction.^{(BI) 25} But when the plot came to the king’s attention,^[c] he issued written orders that the evil scheme Haman had devised against the Jews should come back onto his own head,^(BJ) and that he and his sons should be impaled^(BK) on poles.^{(BL) 26} (Therefore these days were called Purim, from the word pur.^(BM)) Because of everything written in this letter and because of what they had seen and what had happened to them, ²⁷ the Jews took it on themselves to establish the custom that they and their descendants and all who join them should without fail observe these two days every year, in the way prescribed and at the time appointed. ²⁸ These days should be remembered and observed in every generation by every family, and in every province and in every city. And these days of Purim should never fail to be celebrated by the Jews—nor should the memory of these days die out among their descendants.

²⁹ So Queen Esther, daughter of Abihail,^(BN) along with Mordecai the Jew, wrote with full authority to confirm this second letter concerning Purim. ³⁰ And Mordecai sent letters to all the Jews in the 127 provinces^(BO) of Xerxes’ kingdom—words of goodwill and assurance— ³¹ to establish these days of Purim at their designated times, as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther had decreed for them, and as they had established for themselves and their descendants in regard to their times of fasting^(BP) and lamentation.^{(BQ) 32} Esther’s decree confirmed these regulations about Purim, and it was written down in the records.

The Greatness of Mordecai

10 King Xerxes imposed tribute throughout the empire, to its distant shores.^{(BR) 2} And all his acts of power and might, together with a full account of the greatness of Mordecai,^(BS) whom the king had promoted,^(BT) are they not written in the book of the annals^(BU) of the kings of Media and Persia? ³ Mordecai the Jew was second^(BV) in rank^(BW) to King Xerxes,^(BX) 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.^(BY)