1And in the twelfth month, that is the month Adar, on the thirteenth day in it, when the word of the king and his decree (dat) drew near to be done, on the day that the enemies of the Jews hoped to rule over them, and it was turned over, that the Jews, they themselves, would rule over those who hated them—
2the Jews gathered themselves in their cities throughout all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus, to lay a hand on those who sought their harm; and no man (ish) stood before them, for the fear of them had fallen upon all the peoples.
3And all the princes of the provinces, and the satraps, and the governors, and the doers of the work that belonged to the king, were lifting up the Jews, for the fear of Mordecai had fallen upon them.
4For Mordecai was great in the house of the king, and his report went throughout all the provinces; for the man (ish) Mordecai was going on and growing great.
5And the Jews struck on all their enemies with a stroke of the sword, and killing, and destruction, and did to those who hated them according to their will.
6And in Shushan the citadel the Jews killed and destroyed five hundred men (ish).
7And Parshandatha, and Dalphon, and Aspatha,
8and Poratha, and Adalia, and Aridatha,
9and Parmashta, and Arisai, and Aridai, and Vaizatha,
10the ten sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha, oppressor of the Jews, they killed; but on the spoil they did not lay their hand.
11On that day the number of those killed in Shushan the citadel came before the king.
12And the king said to Esther the queen, "In Shushan the citadel the Jews have killed and destroyed five hundred men (ish), and the ten sons of Haman; in the rest of the provinces of the king what have they done! And what is your petition? And it shall be given to you. And what is your request further? And it shall be done."
13And Esther said, "If it is good to the king, let it be given also tomorrow to the Jews who are in Shushan to do according to the decree (dat) of today, and let the ten sons of Haman be hanged on the tree."
14And the king said for it to be done so; and a decree (dat) was given in Shushan, and they hanged the ten sons of Haman.
15And the Jews who were in Shushan gathered themselves also on the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and killed in Shushan three hundred men (ish); but on the spoil they did not lay their hand.
16And the rest of the Jews who were in the provinces of the king gathered themselves and stood for their soul (nephesh), and had rest from their enemies, and killed of those hating them seventy-five thousand—but on the spoil they did not lay their hand—
17on the thirteenth day of the month Adar; and on the fourteenth in it there was rest, and they made it a day of feasting and gladness.
18But the Jews who were in Shushan gathered on the thirteenth in it and on the fourteenth in it; and on the fifteenth in it there was rest, and they made it a day of feasting and gladness.
19Therefore the Jews of the villages, those dwelling in the towns of the unwalled places, make the fourteenth day of the month Adar gladness and feasting and a good day, and a sending of portions each man (ish) to his neighbor.
20And Mordecai wrote these words, and sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus, the near and the far,
21to establish upon them to be doing the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and the fifteenth day in it, in every year,
22as the days in which the Jews had rest from their enemies, and the month which was turned over 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 man (ish) to his neighbor, and gifts to the needy.
23And the Jews took upon themselves what they had begun to do, and what Mordecai had written to them.
24For Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, oppressor of all the Jews, had devised against the Jews to destroy them, and had cast Pur—that is, the lot—to crush them and to destroy them;
25but when she came before the king, he said by the letter that his evil device, which he had devised against the Jews, should return upon his own head; and they hanged him and his sons on the tree.
26Therefore they called these days Purim, after the name of the Pur. Therefore, because of all the words of this letter, and what they had seen concerning this, and what had reached them,
27the Jews established and took upon themselves, and upon their seed, and upon all who joined themselves to them, and it would not pass, to be doing these two days according to their writing and according to their appointed time, in every year;
28and that these days should be remembered and done in every generation and generation, family and family, province and province, and city and city; and these days of Purim should not pass from the midst of the Jews, and their memorial should not cease from their seed.
29And Esther the queen, the daughter of Abihail, and Mordecai the Jew, wrote with all authority to establish this second letter of Purim.
30And he sent letters to all the Jews, to the hundred twenty-seven provinces, the kingdom of Ahasuerus, words of peace and truth,
31to establish these days of Purim in their appointed times, as Mordecai the Jew and Esther the queen had established upon them, and as they had established upon their soul (nephesh) and upon their seed, the matters of the fastings and their cry.
32And the command of Esther established these matters of Purim; and it was written in the book.