Esther 9

1 For in the twelfth month, on the thirteenth day of the month — the month of Adar — the letters written by the king arrived. [a] 2 On that very day the enemies of the Jews perished. No one stood against them, out of fear of them. 3 For the chiefs of the satraps and the nobles and the royal scribes were treating the Jews with honor, since the fear of Mordecai lay on them; 4 for the king's decree had gone out, that he should be named in every part of the kingdom. [b]

6 And in the city of Susa the Jews killed five hundred men, 7 among them Pharsannestain, Delphon, Phasga, 8 Phardatha, Barea, Sarbacha, 9 Marmasima, Aruphaeus, Arsaeus, and Zabuthaitha — [c] 10 the ten sons of Haman son of Hammedatha the Bugaean, the enemy of the Jews — and they took plunder. [d]

11 That same day the number of those who had perished in Susa was handed in to the king. 12 And the king said to Esther, “The Jews have destroyed five hundred men in the city of Susa. What do you suppose they have done in the country around? So what more do you ask? It is yours.” 13 And Esther said to the king, “Let the Jews be allowed to do the same tomorrow — and to hang up the ten sons of Haman.” 14 And he consented that it be done so, and handed over the bodies of Haman's sons to the Jews of the city, to hang up.

15 And the Jews gathered in Susa on the fourteenth of Adar and killed three hundred men — but they plundered nothing. 16 And the rest of the Jews throughout the kingdom gathered and came to one another's help, and got rest from their foes; for on the thirteenth of Adar they destroyed fifteen thousand of them — but they took no plunder. [f] 17 And they rested on the fourteenth of the same month, and kept it as a day of rest, with joy and gladness. 18 But the Jews in the city of Susa gathered on the fourteenth as well, and did not rest; they kept the fifteenth too, with joy and gladness. [g] 19 This is why the Jews scattered through every outlying land keep the fourteenth of Adar as a good day, with gladness, each one sending portions to his neighbor — while those who live in the chief cities keep the fifteenth of Adar too as a good day of gladness, sending portions to their neighbors. [h]

20 And Mordecai wrote these things down in a book and sent it out to the Jews in the kingdom of Artaxerxes, near and far, 21 to establish these good days, and to keep the fourteenth and the fifteenth of Adar — 22 for on those days the Jews got rest from their enemies — and to keep the whole month in which their fortunes turned (it was Adar), from mourning to joy and from anguish to a good day: whole good days of wedding feasts and gladness, sending portions to their friends and to the poor. [i]

23 And the Jews took it upon themselves, just as Mordecai had written to them: 24 how Haman son of Hammedatha, the Macedonian, made war on them; how he drew up a decree, and cast the lot, to wipe them out; 25 and how he went in to the king and told him to hang Mordecai — but every evil he set in motion against the Jews came down on his own head, and he was hanged, he and his children. 26 That is why these days were named Phrourai — after the lots, for in their language the lots are called phrourai — and because of the words of this letter, and everything they had suffered on account of it all, and everything that had happened to them. [j]

27 And Mordecai established it, and the Jews took it on themselves, and on their descendants, and on all who should join themselves to them — never would they keep it otherwise. These days were to be a memorial, observed generation after generation, in every city, every family, and every province. 28 And these days of Phrourai are to be kept for all time; the memory of them shall never fail among the generations.

29 And Esther the queen, the daughter of Amminadab, together with Mordecai the Jew, wrote down all that they had done, and the confirmation of the letter of Phrourai. [k] 31 And Mordecai and Esther the queen made it binding on themselves, at their own cost — at that time they had staked their very health on the plan they made. [m] 32 And Esther established it by her word forever, and it was written down for a memorial.