Esther 9
Christian Standard Bible
Victories of the Jews
9 The king’s command and law(A) went into effect on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month,(B) the month Adar. On the day when the Jews’ enemies(C) had hoped to overpower them, just the opposite happened. The Jews overpowered those who hated them.(D) 2 In each of King Ahasuerus’s provinces(E) the Jews assembled in their cities to attack those who intended to harm them.[a] Not a single person could withstand them; fear of them(F) fell on every nationality.(G)
3 All the officials of the provinces, the satraps, the governors, and the royal civil administrators[b](H) aided the Jews because they feared Mordecai.(I) 4 For Mordecai exercised great power in the palace,(J) and his fame spread throughout the provinces as he became more and more powerful.(K)
5 The Jews put all their enemies to the sword, killing and destroying them.(L) They did what they pleased to those who hated them. 6 In the fortress of Susa(M) the Jews killed and destroyed five hundred men, 7 including Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha, 8 Poratha, Adalia, Aridatha, 9 Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai, and Vaizatha. 10 They killed these ten sons(N) of Haman son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews.(O) However, they did not seize[c] any plunder.(P)
11 On that day the number of people killed in the fortress of Susa was reported to the king. 12 The king said to Queen Esther, “In the fortress of Susa the Jews have killed and destroyed five hundred men, including Haman’s ten sons. What have they done in the rest of the royal provinces? Whatever you ask will be given to you. Whatever you seek will also be done.”(Q)
13 Esther answered, “If it pleases the king, may the Jews who are in Susa also have tomorrow(R) to carry out today’s law,(S) and may the bodies of Haman’s ten sons(T) be hung on the gallows.”(U) 14 The king gave the orders for this to be done, so a law was announced in Susa, and they hung the bodies of Haman’s ten sons. 15 The Jews in Susa assembled again on the fourteenth day of the month of Adar(V) and killed three hundred men in Susa, but they did not seize any plunder.(W)
16 The rest of the Jews in the royal provinces assembled, defended themselves, and gained relief from their enemies. They killed seventy-five thousand[d] of those who hated them,(X) but they did not seize any plunder. 17 They fought on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar and rested on the fourteenth, and it became a day of feasting and rejoicing.
18 But the Jews in Susa had assembled on the thirteenth and the fourteenth days of the month. They rested on the fifteenth day of the month, and it became a day of feasting and rejoicing.(Y) 19 This explains why the rural Jews who live in villages observe the fourteenth day of the month of Adar as a time of rejoicing and feasting. It is a holiday when they send gifts to one another.(Z)
20 Mordecai(AA) recorded these events and sent letters to all the Jews in all of King Ahasuerus’s provinces, both near and far. 21 He ordered(AB) them to celebrate the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month of Adar every year 22 because during those days the Jews gained relief from(AC) their enemies. That was the month when their sorrow was turned into rejoicing and their mourning into a holiday.(AD) They were to be days of feasting,(AE) rejoicing, and of sending gifts to one another and to the poor.
23 So the Jews agreed to continue the practice they had begun, as Mordecai had written them to do. 24 For Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews,(AF) had plotted against the Jews to destroy them. He cast the pur—that is, the lot—to crush and destroy them.(AG) 25 But when the matter was brought before the king,(AH) he commanded by letter that the evil plan Haman had devised against the Jews return on his own head(AI) and that he should be hanged with his sons on the gallows.(AJ) 26 For this reason these days are called Purim, from the word pur.(AK) Because of all the instructions in this letter as well as what they had witnessed and what had happened to them, 27 the Jews bound themselves, their descendants, and all who joined(AL) with them to a commitment that they would not fail to celebrate these two days each and every year according to the written instructions and according to the time appointed. 28 These days are remembered and celebrated by every generation, family, province, and city, so that these days of Purim will not lose their significance in Jewish life[e] and their memory will not fade from their descendants.(AM)
29 Queen Esther, daughter of Abihail,(AN) along with Mordecai the Jew,(AO) wrote this second letter with full authority(AP) to confirm the letter about Purim. 30 He sent letters with assurances of peace and security[f] to all the Jews who were in the 127 provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, 31 in order to confirm these days of Purim at their proper time just as Mordecai the Jew and Esther the queen had established them and just as they had committed themselves and their descendants to the practices of fasting(AQ) and lamentation.(AR) 32 So Esther’s command confirmed these customs of Purim, which were then written into the record.
Footnotes
- 9:2 Lit cities to send out a hand against the seekers of their evil
- 9:3 Lit and those who do the king’s work; Est 3:9
- 9:10 Lit not put their hands on, also in vv. 15,16
- 9:16 Some LXX mss read 10,107; other LXX mss read 15,000
- 9:28 LXX reads will be celebrated into all times
- 9:30 Or of peace and faithfulness
Esther 9
21st Century King James Version
9 Now in the twelfth month (that is, the month of 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, so that the Jews had rule over those who hated them),
2 the Jews gathered themselves together in their cities throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus to lay hands 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 those who did the business that belonged to 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 who hated them.
6 And in the palace in Shushan 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) they slew; but on the spoil they laid not their hand.
11 On that day the number of those who were slain in the palace at Shushan was brought before the king.
12 And the king said unto Esther the queen, “The Jews have slain and destroyed five hundred men in the palace in Shushan, 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 further request? And it shall be done.”
13 Then said Esther, “If it please the king, let it be granted to the Jews who are in Shushan to do tomorrow 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 who were in Shushan gathered themselves together on the fourteenth day also of the month of Adar, and slew three hundred men at Shushan; but on the spoil they laid not their hand.
16 But the other Jews who 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 spoil.
17 On the thirteenth day of the month of Adar, and on the fourteenth day of the same they rested, and made it a day of feasting and gladness.
18 But the Jews who 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 who dwelt in the unwalled towns made the fourteenth day of the month of 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 who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both nigh and far,
21 to establish this among them: that they should keep the fourteenth day of the month of 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 schemed 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 this wicked scheme which Haman devised against the Jews should return upon his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows.
26 Therefore they called these days Purim after the name of Pur [that is, Lot]. Therefore for all the words of this letter, and of that which they had seen concerning this matter and what had come upon them,
27 the Jews ordained and took upon them and upon their seed and upon all such as joined themselves unto them, that without fail 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 pass 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 regarding 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.
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