Fluent Translation · Read & Reflect
Esther 9
The Day Is Reversed
In the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar, on its thirteenth day, when the king’s command and law were to be carried out, on the day when the enemies of the Judeans hoped to rule over them, the opposite happened: the Judeans themselves ruled over people who hated them. The Judeans gathered in their cities throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus to lay hands on people who sought their harm. No one stood before them, for fear of them had fallen upon all the peoples. All the officials of the provinces, the satraps, the governors, and those doing the king’s business supported the Judeans, for fear of Mordecai had fallen upon them. For Mordecai was great in the king’s house, and his fame went out throughout all the provinces, for the man Mordecai grew greater and greater.
The Judeans Defend Themselves in Susa
The Judeans struck all their enemies with the stroke of the sword, killing and destroying, and did as they pleased to people who hated them. In the citadel of Susa the Judeans killed and destroyed five hundred men. They also killed Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha, Poratha, Adalia, Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai, and Vaizatha, the ten sons of Haman son of Hammedatha, enemy of the Judeans. But they did not lay their hands on the plunder.
A Second Day in Susa
On that day the number of those killed in the citadel of Susa came before the king. The king said to Queen Esther, “In the citadel of Susa the Judeans have killed and destroyed five hundred men and the ten sons of Haman. What then have they done in the rest of the king’s provinces? Now what is your petition? It will be given to you. What is your further request? It will be done.” Esther said, “If it is good to the king, let the Judeans who are in Susa be permitted tomorrow also to act according to today’s law, and let the ten sons of Haman be hanged on the tree.” The king commanded it to be done. A law was issued in Susa, and they hanged the ten sons of Haman. The Judeans who were in Susa gathered also on the fourteenth day of the month of Adar and killed three hundred men in Susa, but they did not lay their hands on the plunder.
Rest from Their Enemies
The rest of the Judeans who were in the king’s provinces gathered and stood for their lives and gained rest from their enemies. They killed seventy-five thousand of people who hated them, but they did not lay their hands on the plunder. This was on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar, and on the fourteenth day they rested and made it a day of feasting and gladness. But the Judeans who were in Susa gathered on the thirteenth and on the fourteenth, and on the fifteenth they rested and made it a day of feasting and gladness. So the rural Judeans who live in the unwalled towns make the fourteenth day of the month of Adar a day of gladness and feasting, a good day, and a day of sending portions to one another.
Mordecai Establishes the Days of Purim
Mordecai wrote these things and sent letters to all the Judeans who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, near and far, establishing for them that they should keep the fourteenth day of the month of Adar and the fifteenth day of it, year by year, as the days on which the Judeans gained rest from their enemies, and the month that was turned for them from sorrow to gladness and from mourning to a good day, so that they should make them days of feasting and gladness, sending portions to one another and gifts to the poor.
The Pur Becomes Purim
So the Judeans accepted what they had begun to do and what Mordecai had written to them. For Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, enemy of all the Judeans, had plotted against the Judeans to destroy them and had cast Pur—that is, the lot—to crush and destroy them. But when it came before the king, he commanded by letter that Haman’s evil plan that he had devised against the Judeans should return upon his own head and that he and his sons should be hanged on the tree. So they called these days Purim, after the name Pur. Therefore, because of all the words of this letter, and what they had seen concerning this, and what had come upon them, the Judeans established and accepted for themselves, for their offspring, and for everyone who joined them, so that it should not pass away, that they would keep these two days according to what was written and according to their appointed time every year. These days are to be remembered and kept in every generation, every clan, every province, and every city. These days of Purim will not pass away from among the Judeans, and their remembrance will not cease from their offspring.
Esther and Mordecai Confirm Purim
Then Queen Esther daughter of Abihail and Mordecai the Judean wrote with full authority to confirm this second letter concerning Purim. Letters were sent to all the Judeans, to the one hundred twenty-seven provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, words of peace and faithfulness, to establish these days of Purim at their appointed times, just as Mordecai the Judean and Queen Esther had established for them, and just as they had established for themselves and for their offspring matters of fasting and their cry. Esther’s command established these matters of Purim, and it was written in the book.