1
Now in the twelfthmonth, that is, the monthAdar, on the thirteenthday of the same, when the king's commandment and his decree drew near to be put in execution, in the day that the enemies of the Jewshoped to have power over them,(though it was turned to the contrary, that the Jews had rule over them that hated them;)
2
The Jews gathered themselves together in their cities throughout all the provinces of the kingAhasuerus, to layhand on such as sought their hurt: and no man could withstandthem; for the fear of themfell upon all people.
3
And all the rulers of the provinces, and the lieutenants, and the deputies, and officers of the king, helped the Jews; because the fear of Mordecaifell upon them.
4
For Mordecai was great in the king's house, and his fame went out throughout all the provinces: for this manMordecaiwaxedgreater and greater.
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Thus the Jewssmote all their enemies with the stroke of the sword, and slaughter, and destruction, and did what they would unto those that hated them.
6
And in Shushan the palace the Jewsslew and destroyedfivehundredmen.
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And Parshandatha, and Dalphon, and Aspatha,
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And Poratha, and Adalia, and Aridatha,
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And Parmashta, and Arisai, and Aridai, and Vajezatha,
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The tensons of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews, slew they; but on the spoillaid they not their hand.
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On that day the number of those that were slain in Shushan the palace was broughtbefore the king.
12
And the kingsaid unto Esther the queen, The Jews have slain and destroyedfivehundredmen in Shushan the palace, and the tensons of Haman; what have they done in the rest of the king's provinces? now what is thy petition? and it shall be granted thee: or what is thy requestfurther? and it shall be done.
13
Then saidEsther, If it please the king, let it be granted to the Jews which are in Shushan to do to morrow also according unto this day's decree, and let Haman's tensons be hanged upon the gallows.
14
And the kingcommanded it so to be done: and the decree was given at Shushan; and they hanged Haman's tensons.
15
For the Jews that were in Shushan gathered themselves together on the fourteenthday also of the monthAdar, and slewthreehundredmen at Shushan; but on the prey they laid not their hand.
16
But the otherJews that were in the king's provinces gathered themselves together, and stood for their lives, and had rest from their enemies, and slew of their foesseventy and fivethousand, but they laid not their hands on the prey,
17
On the thirteenthday of the monthAdar; and on the fourteenthday of the same rested they, and made it a day of feasting and gladness.
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But the Jews that were at Shushan assembled together on the thirteenthday thereof, and on the fourteenth thereof; and on the fifteenthday of the same they rested, and made it a day of feasting and gladness.
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Therefore the Jews of the villages, that dwelt in the unwalledtowns, made the fourteenthday of the monthAdar a day of gladness and feasting, and a goodday, and of sendingportionsone to another.
20
And Mordecaiwrote these things, and sentletters unto all the Jews that were in all the provinces of the kingAhasuerus, both nigh and far,
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To stablish this among them, that they should keep the fourteenthday of the monthAdar, and the fifteenthday of the same, yearly,
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As the days wherein the Jewsrested from their enemies, and the month which was turned unto them from sorrow to joy, and from mourning into a goodday: that they should make them days of feasting and joy, and of sendingportionsone to another, and gifts to the poor.
23
And the Jewsundertook to do as they had begun, and as Mordecai had written unto them;
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Because Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had devised against the Jews to destroy them, and had castPur, that is, the lot, to consume them, and to destroy them;
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But when Esther camebefore the king, he commanded by letters that his wickeddevice, which he devised against the Jews, should return upon his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows.
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Wherefore they called these daysPurim after the name of Pur. Therefore for all the words of this letter, and of that which they had seen concerning this matter, and which had come unto them,
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The Jewsordained, and took upon them, and upon their seed, and upon all such as joined themselves unto them, so as it should not fail, that they would keep these twodays according to their writing, and according to their appointed time every year;
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And that these days should be remembered and keptthroughout every generation, every family, every province, and every city; and that these days of Purim should not fail from among the Jews, nor the memorial of them perish from their seed.
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Then Esther the queen, the daughter of Abihail, and Mordecai the Jew, wrote with all authority, to confirm this secondletter of Purim.
30
And he sent the letters unto all the Jews, to the hundredtwenty and sevenprovinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, with words of peace and truth,
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To confirm these days of Purim in their times appointed, according as Mordecai the Jew and Esther the queen had enjoined them, and as they had decreed for themselves and for their seed, the matters of the fastings and their cry.
32
And the decree of Estherconfirmed these matters of Purim; and it was written in the book.