1Now, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar, when the king's command and decree were about to be carried out—on the very day the enemies of the Jews had hoped to overpower them—the opposite happened: the Jews overpowered those who hated them.
2The Jews gathered in their cities throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus to attack those who wanted to harm them. No one could stand against them, because fear of the Jews had fallen on all the people.
3All the provincial rulers, the regional governors, the local governors, and the king's officials helped the Jews because they were afraid of Mordecai.
4Mordecai was a very important person in the king's palace, and his fame spread throughout all the provinces, as the man Mordecai became more and more powerful.
5The Jews struck down all their enemies with swords, slaughtering and destroying them, and did whatever they wanted to those who hated them.
6In the fortress of Susa, the Jews killed and destroyed 500 men.
7They killed Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha,
8Poratha, Adalia, Aridatha,
9Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai, and Vaizatha.
10These were the ten sons of Haman, son of Hammedatha, who was an enemy of the Jews. But they did not take any of their possessions.
11That day, the king was told how many people had been killed in the fortress of Susa.
12The king said to Queen Esther, "The Jews have killed and destroyed 500 men in the fortress of Susa, including Haman's ten sons. What do you think they have done in the rest of the royal provinces? Now, what else do you want? It will be given to you. What else do you ask for? It will be done."
13Esther replied, "If it pleases the king, let the Jews in Susa be allowed to carry out today's decree again tomorrow. And let Haman's ten sons be hanged on the gallows."
14The king ordered this to be done. A decree was issued in Susa, and Haman's ten sons were hanged.
15The Jews in Susa also gathered on the fourteenth day of the month of Adar and killed 300 men in Susa, but they did not take any of their possessions.
16The other Jews in the king's provinces gathered to protect themselves, found relief from their enemies, and killed 75,000 of those who hated them. But they did not take any of their possessions.
17This happened on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar. On the fourteenth day of that month, they rested and made it a day of feasting and celebration.
18However, the Jews in Susa assembled on both the thirteenth and fourteenth days of the month. So, on the fifteenth day of that month, they rested and made it a day of feasting and celebration.
19That is why the Jews in the villages, who live in open towns, observe the fourteenth day of the month of Adar as a day of happiness and feasting, a holiday, and a day for sending gifts of food to each other.
20Mordecai wrote down these events and sent letters to all the Jews in all of King Ahasuerus's provinces, both near and far.
21He instructed them to celebrate the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month of Adar each year.
22These were the days when the Jews found relief from their enemies, and the month when their sorrow turned into joy, and their mourning into a holiday. He told them to make these days days of feasting and happiness, and to send gifts of food to one another and presents to the poor.
23The Jews accepted this custom that they had begun, just as Mordecai had written to them.
24They did this because Haman, son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had plotted against the Jews to destroy them. He had cast lots, called Pur, to consume and destroy them.
25But when this came to the king's attention, he ordered, through letters, that Haman's evil plan, which he had devised against the Jews, should turn back on himself, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows.
26That is why these days were called Purim, a name taken from the word "Pur." The Jews established these days because of everything written in this letter, all they had seen regarding this matter, and what had happened to them.
27So the Jews made a rule for themselves, their descendants, and all those who would join them, that these two days should never be forgotten. They would observe them every year, according to what was written and at their appointed time.
28These days were to be remembered and celebrated by every generation, every family, every province, and every city. The days of Purim were not to stop being celebrated by the Jews, nor their memory to disappear from their descendants.
29Then Queen Esther, daughter of Abihail, and Mordecai the Jew, wrote with full authority to confirm this second letter about Purim.
30Mordecai sent letters to all the Jews in the one hundred twenty-seven provinces of King Ahasuerus's kingdom, with messages of peace and truth,
31to establish these days of Purim at their designated times, just as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther had ordered, and as they had decided for themselves and their descendants concerning times of fasting and lamenting.
32Esther's command confirmed these matters of Purim, and it was recorded in the book.