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| [1]So in the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, upon 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 (but it turned contrary: for the Jews had rule over them that hated them) |
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| [2]The Jews gathered themselves together into their cities throughout all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus [Xerxes], to lay hand on such as sought their hurt, and no man could withstand them: for the fear of them fell upon all people. |
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| [3]And all the rulers of the provinces, and the princes and the captains, and the officers of the king exalted the Jews: for the fear of Mordecai fell upon them. |
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| [4]For Mordecai was great in the king's house, and the report of him went through all the provinces: for this man Mordecai waxed greater and greater. |
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| [5]Thus the Jews smote all their enemies with strokes of the sword and slaughter, and destruction, and did what they would unto those that hated them. |
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| [6]And at Shushan the palace slew the Jews and destroyed five hundred men, |
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| [7]And Parshandatha, and Dalphon, and Aspatha, |
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| [8]And Poratha, and Adalia, and Aridatha, |
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| [9]And Parmashta, and Arisai, and Aridai, and Vajezatha, |
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| [10]The ten sons of Haman, the son of Hammedatha, the adversary of the Jews slew they: but they laid not their hands on the spoil. |
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| [11]On the same day came the number of those that were slain, unto the palace of Shushan before the king. |
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| [12]And the king said unto the queen Esther, The Jews have slain in Shushan the palace and destroyed five hundred men, and the ten sons of Haman: what have they done in the rest of the king's provinces? And what is thy petition, that it may be given thee? Or what is thy request moreover, that it may be performed? |
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| [13]Then said Esther, If it please the king, let it be granted also tomorrow to the Jews that are in Shushan, to do according unto this day's decree, that they may hang upon the tree Haman's ten sons. |
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| [14]And the king charged to do so, and the decree was given at Shushan, and they hanged Haman's ten sons. |
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| [15]So the Jews that were in Shushan, assembled themselves upon the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and slew three hundred men in Shushan, but on the spoil they laid not their hand. |
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| [16]And the rest of the Jews that were in the king's provinces assembled themselves, and stood for their lives, and had rest from their enemies, and slew of them that hated them, seventy and five thousand: but they laid not their hand on the spoil. |
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| [17]This they did on the thirteenth day of the month Adar, and rested the fourteenth day thereof, and kept it a day of feasting and joy. |
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| [18]But the Jews that were in Shushan assembled themselves on the thirteenth day, and on the fourteenth thereof, and they rested on the fifteenth of the same, and kept it a day of feasting and joy. |
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| [19]Therefore the Jews of the villages that dwelt in the unwalled towns, kept the fourteenth day of the month Adar with joy and feasting, even a joyful day, and every one sent presents unto his neighbor. |
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| [20]And Mordecai wrote these words, and sent letters unto all the Jews that were through all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus [Xerxes], both near and far, |
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| [21]Enjoining them that they should keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and the fifteenth day of the same, every year. |
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| [22]According to 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 joyful day, to keep them the days of feasting, and joy, and to send presents every man to his neighbor, and gifts to the poor. |
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| [23]And the Jews promised to do as they had begun, and as Mordecai had written unto them, |
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| [24]Because Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite all the Jews' adversary, had imagined against the Jews, to destroy them, and had cast Pur (that is a lot) to consume and destroy them. |
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| [25]And when she came before the king, he commanded by letters, Let this wicked device (which he imagined against the Jews) turn upon his own head, and let them hang him and his sons on the tree. |
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| [26]Therefore they called these days Purim, by the name of Pur, and because of all the words of this letter, and of that which they had seen besides this, and of that which had come unto them. |
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| [27]The Jews also ordained, and promised for them and for their seed, and for all that joined unto them, that they would not fail to observe those two days every year, according to their writing, and according to their season, |
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| [28]And that these days should be remembered, and kept throughout every generation and every family, and every province, and every city: even these days of Purim should not fail among the Jews, and the memorial of them should not perish from their seed. |
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| [29]And the queen Esther the daughter of Abihail and Mordecai the Jew wrote with all authority (to confirm this letter of Purim the second time) |
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| [30]And he sent letters unto all the Jews to the hundred and seven and twenty provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus [Xerxes], with words of peace and truth, |
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| [31]To confirm these days of Purim, according to their seasons, as Mordecai the Jew and Esther the queen had appointed them, and as they had promised for themselves and for their seed with fasting and prayer. |
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| [32]And the decree of Esther confirmed these words of Purim, and was written in the book. |
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