Esther Chapter 9

The Jews Destroy Their Enemies

¹ The thirteenth day, twelfth month, when the king’s edict was about to be carried out and the Jews’ enemies hoped to gain mastery over them, fortunes reversed. The Jews gained mastery over those who hated them. ² They gathered in their towns throughout the provinces to seize the ones that tried to harm them. Nobody could stand up against them, because the dread of the Jews had fallen on the people. ³ Even the rulers of the provinces, the satraps, the governors, and the ones that were doing the king’s business helped the Jews, because the dread of Mordecai had fallen on them. ⁴ He became greater and greater in the king’s palace, and his fame spread throughout the provinces. ⁵ The Jews struck their enemies with the sword, killing and destroying, and doing what they pleased to the ones that hated them.

⁶ They killed 500 men in Susa, ^{7, 10a}including Haman’s 10 sons:

            Parshandatha,

            Dalphon,

            Aspatha,

            ⁸ Poratha,

            Adalia,

            Aridatha,

            ⁹ Parmashta,

            Arisai,

            Aridai, and

            Vaizatha. ^10bBut they didn’t take any plunder.                                                   Esther 9:1-10

¹¹ That day, the number killed in Susa was reported to the king. ¹² He told Queen Esther,

“The Jews have killed 500 men in Susa plus Haman’s 10 sons.

      What have they done in the rest of the provinces!?

What’s your petition? I’ll grant it.

      What’s your added request; I’ll do it.”

¹³ She said, “If it pleases the king, have the Jews in Susa do tomorrow what the edict said for today. Have the dead bodies of Haman’s 10 sons hanged on the gallows.”

¹⁴ So he had it done. He issued the edict in Susa, and they hanged Haman’s 10 sons. ¹⁵ The Jews in Susa gathered on the fourteenth of Adar and killed 300 men. But they didn’t take plunder.

¹⁶ The Jews in the provinces came together to defend themselves and rid themselves of their enemies. They killed 75,000 that hated them, but they didn’t take plunder. ¹⁷ They did that on the thirteenth of Adar and rested on the fourteenth with feasting and celebrating. ¹⁸ The Jews in Susa gathered on both days and rested on the fifteenth with feasting and celebrating. ¹⁹ The Jews in the rural towns made the fourteenth day of Adar a holiday for feasting and celebrating and sending dishes of food to one another. Esther 9:11-19

The Festival of Purim Inaugurated

²⁰ Mordecdai recorded those events and sent letters to all the Jews in the provinces of King Ahasuerus, near and far. ²¹ He obliged them to celebrate the fourteenth and fifteenth of Adar each year, ²² the days the Jews had rid themselves of their enemies. It was a month for them that turned sorrow into happiness, mourning into a holiday. They were to make them days of feasting and celebrating and sending dishes of food to one another and gifts to the poor. ²³ The Jews undertook to do what Mordecai had written. ²⁴ Haman Ben-Hammedatha the Agagite, enemy of the Jews, had schemed to destroy them. He’d cast Pur (the lot) to disturb them and destroy them. ²⁵ But when it came to the king’s attention, he commanded by letter that Haman’s scheme should come back on his own head; he and his sons would be hanged on the gallows. ²⁶ They called those days Purim after the Pur. Because of the instruction in this letter—what they’d seen in this regard and what had happened to them— ²⁷ the Jews established a custom for themselves, their descendants, and their allies: to celebrate those two days according to their regulation at the appointed time each year. ²⁸ Those days were to be remembered and celebrated throughout every generation, family, province, and city. The days of Purim were not to fail from among the Jews or their memory from their descendants.               Esther 9:20-28

²⁹ Queen Esther Bat-Abihail, along with Mordecai the Jew, wrote with full authority to confirm this second letter about Purim. ³⁰ Mordecai sent letters to the Jews in the 127 provinces, a message of peace and truth, ³¹ to establish those days of Purim at their appointed times, like Mordecai and Esther had set for themselves and their descendants with instructions for their times of fasting and mourning. ³² Esther’s command established those customs for Purim, and it was written in the records.                                                                                                    Esther 9:29-32