| Chapter 9
|
| 1 | Now in the
twelfth month, that is, the month Adar, on the thirteenth day of the same, when
the king's commandment and his decree drew near to be put in execution, in the
day that the enemies of the Jews hoped to have power over them, (though it was
turned to the contrary, that the Jews had rule over them that hated them;) |
| 2 | The Jews gathered
themselves together in their cities throughout all the provinces of the king
Ahasuerus, to lay hand on such as sought their hurt: and no man could withstand
them; for the fear of them fell upon all people. |
|
3 | And all the rulers of the provinces, and the
lieutenants, and the deputies, and officers of the king, helped the Jews;
because the fear of Mordecai fell upon them. |
| 4 | For Mordecai was great in the king's house, and his fame
went out throughout all the provinces: for this man Mordecai waxed greater and
greater. |
| 5 | Thus the Jews
smote all their enemies with the stroke of the sword, and slaughter, and
destruction, and did what they would unto those that hated them. |
| 6 | And in Shushan the palace the Jews
slew and destroyed five hundred men. |
|
7 | And Parshandatha, and Dalphon, and Aspatha, |
| 8 | And Poratha, and Adalia, and
Aridatha, |
| 9 | And
Parmashta, and Arisai, and Aridai, and Vajezatha, |
|
10 | The ten sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the
enemy of the Jews, slew they; but on the spoil laid they not their hand. |
| 11 | On that day the number of
those that were slain in Shushan the palace was brought before the king. |
| 12 | And the king said unto
Esther the queen, The Jews have slain and destroyed five hundred men in Shushan
the palace, and the ten sons of Haman; what have they done in the rest of the
king's provinces? now what is thy petition? and it shall be granted thee: or
what is thy request further? and it shall be done. |
|
13 | Then said Esther, If it please the king, let it
be granted to the Jews which are in Shushan to do to morrow also according unto
this day's decree, and let Haman's ten sons be hanged upon the gallows. |
| 14 | And the king commanded it
so to be done: and the decree was given at Shushan; and they hanged Haman's ten
sons. |
| 15 | For the Jews
that were in Shushan gathered themselves together on the fourteenth day also of
the month Adar, and slew three hundred men at Shushan; but on the prey they
laid not their hand. |
| 16 |
But the other Jews that were in the king's provinces gathered themselves
together, and stood for their lives, and had rest from their enemies, and slew
of their foes seventy and five thousand, but they laid not their hands on the
prey, |
| 17 | On the
thirteenth day of the month Adar; and on the fourteenth day of the same rested
they, and made it a day of feasting and gladness. |
|
18 | But the Jews that were at Shushan assembled
together on the thirteenth day thereof, and on the fourteenth thereof; and on
the fifteenth day of the same they rested, and made it a day of feasting and
gladness. |
| 19 | Therefore
the Jews of the villages, that dwelt in the unwalled towns, made the fourteenth
day of the month Adar a day of gladness and feasting, and a good day, and of
sending portions one to another. |
|
20 | And Mordecai wrote these things, and sent letters unto all the
Jews that were in all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus, both nigh and
far, |
| 21 | To stablish this
among them, that they should keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and the
fifteenth day of the same, yearly, |
|
22 | As the days wherein the Jews rested from their enemies, and the
month which was turned unto them from sorrow to joy, and from mourning into a
good day: that they should make them days of feasting and joy, and of sending
portions one to another, and gifts to the poor. |
|
23 | And the Jews undertook to do as they had begun, and
as Mordecai had written unto them; |
|
24 | Because Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of
all the Jews, had devised against the Jews to destroy them, and had cast Pur,
that is, the lot, to consume them, and to destroy them; |
| 25 | But when Esther came before the king,
he commanded by letters that his wicked device, which he devised against the
Jews, should return upon his own head, and that he and his sons should be
hanged on the gallows. |
| 26 |
Wherefore they called these days Purim after the name of Pur. Therefore for
all the words of this letter, and of that which they had seen concerning this
matter, and which had come unto them, |
| 27 | The Jews ordained, and took upon them, and upon their
seed, and upon all such as joined themselves unto them, so as it should not
fail, that they would keep these two days according to their writing, and
according to their appointed time every year; |
| 28 | And that these days should be remembered and kept
throughout every generation, every family, every province, and every city; and
that these days of Purim should not fail from among the Jews, nor the memorial
of them perish from their seed. |
|
29 | Then Esther the queen, the daughter of Abihail, and Mordecai the
Jew, wrote with all authority, to confirm this second letter of Purim. |
| 30 | And he sent the letters unto
all the Jews, to the hundred twenty and seven provinces of the kingdom of
Ahasuerus, with words of peace and truth, |
| 31 | To confirm these days of Purim in their times
appointed, according as Mordecai the Jew and Esther the queen had enjoined
them, and as they had decreed for themselves and for their seed, the matters of
the fastings and their cry. |
| 32
| And the decree of Esther confirmed these matters of Purim; and it was
written in the book. |
