The Jews Strike Down Their Enemies

1Now in the twelfth month (that is, the month Adar), on the thirteenth [†]day when the king’s word and law had reached the point for them to be done, on the day when the enemies of the Jews hoped to gain power over them, it was turned around so that the Jews themselves gained power over those who hated them. 2The Jews assembled in their cities throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus to send forth their hand against those who sought their calamity; and no one could stand before them, for the dread of them had fallen on all the peoples. 3Even all the princes of the provinces, the satraps, the governors, and those who were doing the king’s work [†]advanced the Jews, because the dread of Mordecai had fallen on them. 4Indeed, Mordecai was great in the king’s house, and the report about him went throughout all the provinces; for the man Mordecai became greater and greater. 5Thus the Jews struck all their enemies with [†]the sword, killing and causing them to perish; and they did what they pleased to those who hated them. 6And at the citadel in Susa the Jews killed and caused to perish 500 men, 7and Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha, 8Poratha, Adalia, Aridatha, 9Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai, and Vaizatha, 10the 10 sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Jews’ adversary; but they did not send forth their hand for the plunder.

11On that day the number of those who were killed at the citadel in Susa came to the king. 12So the king said to Queen Esther, “The Jews have killed and caused to perish 500 men and the 10 sons of Haman at the citadel in Susa. Now in the rest of the king’s provinces, what have they done? So what is [†]your petition? It shall even be given to you. And what is [†]your further request? It shall also be done.” 13Then Esther said, “If it is good to the king, let tomorrow also be given to the Jews who are in Susa to do according to the law for today; and let Haman’s 10 sons be hanged on the gallows.” 14So the king said that it should be done so; and a law was given in Susa, and Haman’s 10 sons were hanged. 15And the Jews who were in Susa assembled also on the fourteenth day of the month Adar and killed 300 men in Susa, but they did not send forth their hand for the plunder.

16Now the rest of the Jews who were in the king’s provinces assembled, to make a stand for their lives and obtain rest for themselves from their enemies, and to kill 75,000 of those who hated them; but they did not send forth their hand for the plunder. 17This was done on the thirteenth day of the month Adar, and on the fourteenth [†]day they rested and made it a day of feasting and gladness.

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

The Feast of Purim Is Established

20Then 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, 21to establish among them to celebrate the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and the fifteenth day [†]of the same month, annually, 22because on those days the Jews obtained rest for themselves from their enemies, and it was a month which was turned around for them from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a [†]holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and gladness and sending portions of food to one another and gifts to the poor.

23Thus the Jews fully accepted what they had started to do and what Mordecai had written to them. 24For Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the adversary of all the Jews, had devised against the Jews to cause them to perish and had cast Pur, that is the lot, to throw them into confusion and cause them to perish. 25But when it came before the king, he said by letter that his evil scheme, which he had [†]devised against the Jews, should return on his own head and that he and his sons should be hanged on the [†]gallows. 26Therefore they called these days Purim after the name of Pur. Therefore, because of the words in this letter, both what they had seen in this regard and what had reached them, 27the Jews established and accepted a custom for themselves and for their seed and for all those who joined themselves to them, so that [†]celebrating these two days according to what was written down and according to their fixed time from year to year would not pass away. 28So 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.

29Then Queen Esther, daughter of Abihail, with Mordecai the Jew, wrote with full authority to establish this second letter about Purim. 30And he sent letters to all the Jews, to the 127 provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, namely, words of peace and truth, 31to 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 their times of fasting and their crying out. 32And the declaration of Esther established these words concerning Purim, and it was written in the book.