The Jews Destroy Their Enemies
And in the twelfth month — that is the month Adar — on the thirteenth day of it, when the word of the king and his law drew near to be done, on the day the enemies of the Jews had hoped to rule over them — and it was turned about: the Jews themselves ruled over those who hated them —
the Jews gathered in their cities, in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, to send a hand against those who sought their harm; and no one stood before them, for the dread of them had fallen on all the peoples.
And all the officials of the provinces, and the satraps and the governors, and those who did the king’s work, were lifting up the Jews, for the dread of Mordecai had fallen on them.
For Mordecai was great in the king’s house, and his report was going out into all the provinces; for the man Mordecai was going on and growing great.
And the Jews struck all their enemies with the stroke of the sword, and killing, and destruction; and they did to those who hated them according to their pleasure.
And in Susa the fortress the Jews killed and destroyed five hundred men.
And Parshandatha, and Dalphon, and Aspatha,
and Poratha, and Adalia, and Aridatha,
and Parmashta, and Arisai, and Aridai, and Vaizatha —
the ten sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the adversary of the Jews — they killed; but on the plunder they did not send their hand.
Haman’s Sons Hanged
On that day the number of those killed in Susa the fortress came before the king.
And the king said to Esther the queen, “In Susa the fortress the Jews have killed and destroyed five hundred men, and the ten sons of Haman. In the rest of the king’s provinces, what have they done? And what is your petition? And it shall be given you. And what is your request further? And it shall be done.”
And Esther said, “If it is good to the king, let it be given tomorrow also to the Jews who are in Susa to do according to the law of today; and let them hang the ten sons of Haman on the tree.”
And the king said for it to be done so; and a law was given in Susa, and they hanged the ten sons of Haman.
And the Jews who were in Susa gathered also on the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and killed in Susa three hundred men; but on the plunder they did not send their hand.
And the rest of the Jews who were in the king’s provinces gathered and stood for their lives, and had rest from their enemies, and killed of those who hated them seventy-five thousand; but on the plunder they did not send their hand.
On the thirteenth day of the month Adar; and they rested on the fourteenth of it, and made it a day of feasting and gladness.
The Feast of Purim Instituted
But the Jews who were in Susa gathered on the thirteenth of it and on the fourteenth of it; and they rested on the fifteenth of it, and made it a day of feasting and gladness.
Therefore the Jews of the open country, who live in the unwalled towns, make the fourteenth day of the month Adar a gladness and a feast and a good day, and a sending of portions each to his neighbor.
And Mordecai wrote these things, and sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, the near and the far,
to establish upon them that they should be keeping the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and the fifteenth day of it, in every year and year,
as the days on which the Jews had rest from their enemies, and the month that was turned about for them from sorrow to gladness, and from mourning to a good day — to make them days of feasting and gladness, and a sending of portions each to his neighbor, and gifts to the poor.
And the Jews received what they had begun to do, and what Mordecai had written to them.
For Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the adversary of all the Jews, had schemed against the Jews to destroy them, and had cast Pur, that is the lot, to crush them and to destroy them.
But when she came before the king, he said with the letter: let his evil scheme, which he schemed against the Jews, return on his own head; and they hanged him and his sons on the tree.
Therefore they called these days Purim, after the name of Pur. Therefore, because of all the words of this letter, and what they had seen concerning this, and what had reached them,
the Jews established and received upon themselves, and upon their seed, and upon all who joined themselves to them — and it shall not pass away — to be keeping these two days according to their writing and according to their appointed time, in every year and year;
and that these days should be remembered and kept in generation and generation, family and family, province and province, and city and city; and that these days of Purim should not pass away from the midst of the Jews, and their memory not come to an end from their seed.
And Esther the queen, the daughter of Abihail, and Mordecai the Jew, wrote with all authority to confirm this second letter of Purim.
And he sent letters to all the Jews, to the hundred and twenty-seven provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus — words of peace and truth —
to confirm these days of Purim at their appointed times, as Mordecai the Jew and Esther the queen had established upon them, and as they had established upon their own lives and upon their seed: the matters of the fastings and their cry.
And the word of Esther confirmed these matters of Purim; and it was written in the book.