Good News [1976], GOOD NEWS BIBLE WITH DEUTEROCANONICALS / APOCRYPHA Today's English Version (AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY, New York) [word count] [B15000].
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The Jews Destroy Their Enemies
1 The thirteenth day of Adar
came, the day on which the
royal proclamation was to take effect,
the day when the enemies of
the Jews were hoping to get them in
their power. But instead, the Jews
triumphed over them.
2 In the Jewish
quarter of every city note in the empire
the Jews organized to attack anyone
who tried to harm them. People
everywhere were afraid of them, and
no one could stand against them.
3 In
fact, all the provincial officials—
governors, administrators, and royal
representatives—helped the Jews
because they were all afraid of Mordecai.
4 It was well known throughout
the empire that Mordecai was
now a powerful man in the palace
and was growing more powerful.
5 So the Jews could do what they
wanted with their enemies. They attacked
them with swords and
slaughtered them.
6 In Susa, the capital city itself,
the Jews killed five hundred men.
7
8
9
10 Among them were the ten sons of
Haman son of Hammedatha, the
enemy of the Jews: Parshandatha,
Dalphon, Aspatha, Poratha, Adalia,
Aridatha, Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai,
and Vaizatha. However, there was
no looting.
11 That same day the number of
people killed in Susa was reported to
the king.
12 He then said to Queen
Esther, “In Susa alone the Jews have
killed five hundred men, including
Haman's ten sons. What must they
have done out in the provinces!
What do you want now? You shall
have it. Tell me what else you want,
and you shall have it.”
13 Esther answered, “If it please
Your Majesty, let the Jews in Susa
do again tomorrow what they were
allowed to do today. And have the
bodies of Haman's ten sons hung
from the gallows.”
14 The king ordered
this to be done, and the proclamation
was issued in Susa. The
bodies of Haman's ten sons were
publicly displayed.
15 On the fourteenth
day of Adar the Jews of Susa
got together again and killed three
hundred more men in the city. But
again, they did no looting.
16 The Jews in the provinces also
organized and defended themselves.
They rid themselves of their enemies
-- --
by killing seventy-five thousand people
who hated them. But they did no
looting.
17 This was on the thirteenth
day of Adar. On the next day, the
fourteenth, there was no more killing,
and they made it a joyful day of
feasting.
18 The Jews of Susa, however,
made the fifteenth a holiday,
since they had slaughtered their enemies
on the thirteenth and fourteenth
and then stopped on the fifteenth.
19 This is why Jews who live
in small towns observe the fourteenth
day of the month of Adar as a
joyous holiday, a time for feasting
and giving gifts of food to one another.
The Festival of Purim
20 Mordecai had these events written
down and sent letters to all the
Jews, near and far, throughout the
Persian Empire,
21 telling them to observe
the fourteenth and fifteenth
days of Adar as holidays every year.
22 These were the days on which the
Jews had rid themselves of their enemies;
this was a month that had
been turned from a time of grief and
despair into a time of joy and happiness.
They were told to observe
these days with feasts and parties,
giving gifts of food to one another
and to the poor.
23 So the Jews followed
Mordecai's instructions, and
the celebration became an annual
custom.
24 Haman son of Hammedatha—
the descendant of Agag and the enemy
of the Jewish people—had cast
lots (“purim,” they were called) to
determine the day for destroying the
Jews; he had planned to wipe them
out. note
25 But Esther went to the king,
and the king issued written orders
with the result that Haman suffered
the fate he had planned for the
Jews—he and his sons were hanged
from the gallows.
26 That is why the
holidays are called Purim, the word
for “lots.” Because of Mordecai's
letter and because of all that had
happened to them,
27 the Jews made
it a rule for themselves, their descendants,
and anyone who might
become a Jew, that at the proper
time each year these two days would
be regularly observed according to
Mordecai's instructions.
28 It was resolved
that every Jewish family of
every future generation in every
province and every city should remember
and observe the days of Purim
for all time to come.
29 Then Queen Esther, the daughter
of Abihail, along with Mordecai,
also wrote a letter, putting her full
authority behind the letter about Purim,
which Mordecai had written
earlier.
30 The letter was addressed
to all the Jews, and copies were sent
to all the 127 provinces of the Persian
Empire. It wished the Jews
peace and security
31 and directed
them and their descendants to observe
the days of Purim at the
proper time, just as they had
adopted rules for the observance of
fasts and times of mourning. This
was commanded by both Mordecai
and Queen Esther.
32 Esther's command,
confirming the rules for Purim,
was written down on a scroll.
Good News [1976], GOOD NEWS BIBLE WITH DEUTEROCANONICALS / APOCRYPHA Today's English Version (AMERICAN BIBLE SOCIETY, New York) [word count] [B15000].
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