1   On the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month Adar, the time came for the king's command and his edict to be carried out. The very day on which the enemies of the Jews had hoped to gain the upper hand over them was to become the day when the Jews should gain the upper hand over those who hated them. 2   On that day the Jews united in their cities in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus to fall upon those who had planned their ruin. No one could resist them, because fear of them had seized all peoples. 3   All the officers of the provinces, the satraps and the governors, and all the royal officials,

Haman's downfall and Mordecai's triumph aided the Jews, because fear of Mordecai had seized them. 4   Mordecai had become a great personage in the royal palace; his fame had spread throughout all the provinces as the power of the man grew steadily greater. 5   So the Jews put their enemies to the sword, with great slaughter and destruction; they worked their will on those who hated them. 6   In Susa, the capital city, the Jews killed five hundred men and destroyed them; 7   and they killed also Parshandatha, Dalphon and Aspatha, 8    9   Poratha, Adalia and Aridatha, Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai and Vaizatha, 10   the ten sons of Haman son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews; but they did not touch the plunder.

11   That day when the number of those killed in Susa the capital city came to the notice of the king, 12   he said to Queen Esther, ‘In Susa, the capital city, the Jews have killed and destroyed five hundred men and the ten sons of Haman. What have they done in the rest of the king's provinces? Whatever you ask further will be given to you; whatever more you seek shall be done.’ 13   Esther answered him, ‘If it please your majesty, let tomorrow be granted to the Jews in Susa to do according to the edict for today; and let the bodies of Haman's ten sons be hung up on the gallows.’ 14   The king gave orders for this to be done; the edict was issued in Susa and Haman's ten sons were hung up on the gallows. 15   The Jews in Susa united again on the fourteenth day of the month Adar and killed three hundred men in Susa; but they did not touch the plunder.

16   The rest of the Jews in the king's provinces had united to defend themselves; they took vengeance on ^note their enemies by killing seventy-five thousand of those who hated them; but they did not touch the plunder. 17   This was on the thirteenth day of the month Adar, and they rested on the fourteenth day and made that a day of feasting and joy. 18   The Jews in Susa had united on the thirteenth and fourteenth days of the month, and rested on the fifteenth day and made that a day of feasting and joy. 19   This is why isolated Jews who live in remote villages keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar in joy and feasting, as a holiday on which they send presents of food to one another.

20   Then Mordecai set these things on record and sent letters to all the Jews in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, 21   far and near, binding them to keep the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month Adar, year by year, 22   as the days on which the Jews obtained relief from their enemies and as the month which was changed for them from sorrow into joy, from a time of mourning to a holiday. They were to keep them as days of feasting and joy, days for sending presents of food to one another and gifts to the poor.

23   So the Jews undertook to continue the practice that they had begun

Haman's downfall and Mordecai's triumph in accordance with Mordecai's letter. 24   This they did because Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had plotted to destroy the Jews and had cast lots, Pur as it is called, with intent to crush and destroy them. 25   But when the matter came before the king, he issued written orders that the wicked plot which Haman had devised against the Jews should recoil on his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows. 26   Therefore, these days were named Purim after the word Pur. Accordingly, because of all that was written in this letter, because of all they had seen and experienced in this affair, 27   the Jews resolved and undertook, on behalf of themselves, their descendants, and all who should join them, that they would without fail keep these two days as a yearly festival in the prescribed manner and at the appointed time; 28   that these days should be remembered and kept, generation after generation, in every family, province, and city, that the days of Purim should always be observed among the Jews, and that the memory of them should never cease among their descendants.

29   Queen Esther daughter of Abihail gave full authority in writing to ^note Mordecai the Jew, to confirm this second letter about Purim. 30   Letters wishing peace and security were sent to all the Jews in the hundred and twenty-seven provinces of King Ahasuerus, 31   making the observance of these days of Purim at their appointed time binding on them, as Mordecai the Jew ^note had prescribed. In the same way they had prescribed regulations for fasts and lamentations for themselves and their descendants. 32   The command of Esther confirmed these regulations for Purim, and the record is preserved in writing.

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