A Decree to Protect the Jews

8 That same day King Ahasuerus gave Queen Esther the estate of Haman, the enemy of the Jews. Then Mordecai came into the presence of the king, for Esther had revealed how he was related to her. ² The king took off his signet ring, which he had taken back from Haman, and gave it to Mordecai. Esther then appointed Mordecai over Haman’s estate.

³ Esther again pleaded with the king, falling at his feet and weeping. She pleaded with him to stop the evil of Haman the Agagite and his plan that he had devised against the Jews. ⁴ Then the king extended the golden scepter to Esther, and she arose and stood before the king.

⁵ She said, “If it pleases the king, and if I have found favor before him and it seems right to the king, and if I am pleasing in his eyes, let an edict be written rescinding the dispatches devised by Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, which he wrote to destroy the Jews who are throughout the king’s provinces. ⁶ For how can I endure seeing the disaster that will fall on my people? How can I bear to see the destruction of my relatives?”

⁷ King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther and Mordecai the Jew, “I have decided to give Haman’s estate to Esther and had him hanged on the gallows, because he stretched out his hand against the Jews. ⁸ Now write in the king’s name on behalf of the Jews what seems good to you and seal it with the king’s signet ring. For a decree that is written in the king’s name, and sealed with the king’s ring, cannot be revoked.”

⁹ So the king’s scribes were called at that time—on the 23^rd day of the third month, the month of Sivan. It was written according to all that Mordecai commanded to all the Jews, as well as to the officials, governors and advisors of all the 127 provinces that stretch from India to Ethiopia. To each province it was written in its own script and in its own language, and also to the Jews in their own writing and language. ¹⁰ This decree was written in the name of King Ahasuerus, sealed with the king’s ring, and sent on horseback by couriers who rode on the king’s horses specially bred for their speed.

¹¹ The king granted the right for Jews in every city to assemble themselves and to protect themselves—to destroy, kill and annihilate any army of any people or province that might attack them and their women and children, and to plunder their possessions. ¹² The day appointed for this in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus was the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month Adar. ¹³ A copy of the written edict was distributed to every province and made known to the peoples of every nationality so that the Jews would be ready on that day to avenge themselves on their enemies.

¹⁴ The couriers that rode royal horses raced out, pressed on by the king’s command. The decree was also given out at the palace at Shushan.

¹⁵ Then Mordecai went out from the king’s presence in blue and white royal robes, with a large gold crown, and also a purple robe of fine linen. The city of Shushan shouted and rejoiced. ¹⁶ For the Jews there was light and gladness, joy and honor. ¹⁷ Throughout every province and throughout every city, wherever the king’s edict and his law went, the Jews had gladness and joy, banquets and holidays. Many peoples of the land became Jews, because the fear of the Jews had overcome them.

Jews Defend Themselves

9 Consequently, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month (that is the month Adar), the king’s edict and his law drew near to be carried out. On that day the enemies of the Jews had hoped to overpower them, but contrary to expectations the Jews gained the upper hand over those that hated them. ² Jews assembled in their cities throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus in order to lay hands on those seeking their harm. No one was able to stand against them, for fear of them had fallen on all the peoples. ³ Even all the administrators of the provinces, the officers and governors, and those doing business for the king, helped the Jews, for the dread of Mordecai had fallen on them. ⁴ Mordecai was prominent at the palace, and his fame spread throughout all the provinces. The man Mordecai was growing ever more powerful.

⁵ The Jews struck down all their enemies with the sword, killing and destroying, and they did whatever they wished to those who hated them. ⁶ In the citadel at Shushan the Jews killed and destroyed 500 people, ⁷ including Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha, ⁸ Poratha, Adalia, Aridatha, ⁹ Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai and Vaizatha, ¹⁰ the 10 sons of Haman, the son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews. They slew them but did not lay their hands on the plunder.

¹¹ On that day the number of those that were killed in the citadel at Shushan was brought to the king’s attention. ¹² Then the king said to Queen Esther, “The Jews have killed and destroyed 500 men in the citadel of Shushan, including Haman’s ten sons. What have they done, in the rest of the king’s provinces? Now what is your request? It shall be granted to you. What other petition do you have? It shall be done.”

¹³ “If it please the king,” Esther said, “let the Jews in Shushan be allowed to carry out today’s edict tomorrow also, and let Haman’s ten sons be hanged on the gallows.”

¹⁴ The king commanded that this be done. A decree was issued in Shushan and they hanged Haman’s 10 sons. ¹⁵ The Jews in Shushan gathered together on the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and they killed 300 men in Shushan, but they did not put their hands on the plunder.

¹⁶ Meanwhile the rest of the Jews who were in the king’s provinces gathered together to protect themselves and to get relief from their enemies. They killed 75,000 of their enemies, but they did not lay their hands on the plunder. ¹⁷ This happened on the thirteenth day of Adar and on the fourteenth day they rested, making it a day of feasting and gladness.

¹⁸ But the Jews that were in Shushan had assembled on the thirteenth and on the fourteenth and on the fifteenth they rested, making it a day of feasting and gladness. ¹⁹ That is why the rural Jews—those living in unwalled villages—make the fourteenth day of the month Adar a day of gladness and feasting, a day of sending presents of food to one another.

Purim Festival

²⁰ Mordecai recorded these events and he sent letters to all the Jews throughout the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far, ²¹ urging them to celebrate the fourteenth and fifteenth days of Adar every year ²² as the days when the Jews got relief from their enemies, and as the month when their sorrow was turned into joy and their mourning into celebration. These were to be days of feasting, celebration and sending presents of food to one another and giving gifts to the poor.

²³ So the Jews agreed to continue the commemoration they had begun, and do what Mordecai had written to them. ²⁴ For Haman, son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had schemed against the Jews to destroy them and had cast the pur—that is, the lot—to ruin and destroy them. ²⁵ But when it came to the king’s attention, he issued a written edict that the wicked scheme Haman^[a] had devised against the Jews should come back on his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows. (²⁶ For this reason, these days were called Purim, from the word pur.) Therefore because of everything in this letter and because of what they had seen and what had happened to them, ²⁷ the Jews established and took upon themselves, upon their descendants, and upon all who joined with them, that they would commemorate these two days in the way prescribed and at the appointed time every year. ²⁸ These days should be remembered and observed in every generation by every family and in every province and every city. These days of Purim should not fail from among the Jews, nor their remembrance perish from their descendants.

²⁹ Then Queen Esther the daughter of Abihail, and also Mordecai the Jew, wrote with full authority to confirm this second letter of Purim. ³⁰ He sent letters to all the Jews in the 127 provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, with words of shalom and truth, ³¹ to establish these days of Purim at their designated times, just as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther had decreed for them and just as they had established for themselves and their descendants, matters regarding their times of fasting and lamentations. ³² Esther’s command confirmed these regulations about Purim and it was written into the records.

10 Now King Ahasuerus imposed a tribute upon the entire land, even to the coastlands of the sea. ² All the acts of his power and might, along with the full account of the greatness of Mordecai and the story of how the king promoted him, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Media and Persia? ³ For Mordecai the Jew was second only to King Ahasuerus, preeminent among the Jews, and held in high esteem by the multitude of his people. He sought their good and spoke for the welfare of his descendants.

²⁷ Now you are the body of Messiah, and members individually. ²⁸ God has put into His community first emissaries, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then healings, helps, leadership, various kinds of tongues. ²⁹ All are not emissaries, are they? All are not prophets, are they? All are not teachers, are they? All do not work miracles, do they? ³⁰ All do not have gifts of healing, do they? All do not speak in tongues, do they? All do not interpret, do they? ³¹ But earnestly desire the greater gifts. And still I show you a far better way:

The Superior Way of Love

Inheritance of the Kedoshim

Psalm 37