Now in the twelfthmonth, that is, the monthAdar, on the thirteenth day of the same, when the king’scommandment and his decreedrewnear to be put in execution, in the day that the enemies of the Jewshoped to havepoweroverthem, (though it was turned to the contrary, that the Jews had ruleoverthemthathatedthem;)
The Jewsgatheredthemselvestogether in theircitiesthroughout all the provinces of the kingAhasuerus, to lay hand on such as soughttheirhurt: and no man couldwithstandthem; for the fear of themfellupon all people.
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 Mordecaifelluponthem.
And the kingsaiduntoEsther the queen, The Jewshaveslain and destroyedfivehundred men in Shushan the palace, and the ten sons of Haman; whathavetheydone in the rest of the king’sprovinces? now what is thy petition? and it shall be grantedthee: or what is thy requestfurther? and it shall be done.
ThensaidEsther, If it please the king, let it be granted to the Jewswhich are in Shushan to do to morrowalsoaccordinguntothisday’sdecree, and let Haman’s ten sons be hangedupon the gallows.
For the Jewsthatwere in Shushangatheredthemselvestogether on the fourteenth day also of the monthAdar, and slewthreehundred men at Shushan; but on the preytheylaid not theirhand.
But the otherJewsthatwere in the king’sprovincesgatheredthemselvestogether, and stood for theirlives, and had restfromtheirenemies, and slew of theirfoesseventy and fivethousand, but theylaid not theirhands on the prey,
But the Jewsthatwere at Shushanassembledtogether on the thirteenth day thereof, and on the fourteenththereof; and on the fifteenth day of the sametheyrested, and made it a day of feasting and gladness.
Therefore the Jews of the villages, thatdwelt in the unwalledtowns, made the fourteenth day of the monthAdar a day of gladness and feasting, and a good day, and of sendingportions one to another.
As the dayswherein the Jewsrestedfromtheirenemies, and the monthwhich was turneduntothemfromsorrow to joy, and frommourninginto a good day: thattheyshouldmakethemdays of feasting and joy, and of sendingportions one to another, and gifts to the poor.
BecauseHaman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had devisedagainst the Jews to destroythem, and had cast Pur, that is, the lot, to consumethem, and to destroythem;
But whenEsthercamebefore the king, he commanded by lettersthat his wickeddevice, which he devisedagainst the Jews, shouldreturnupon his own head, and that he and his sonsshould be hanged on the gallows.
WhereforetheycalledthesedaysPurimafter the name of Pur. Therefore for all the words of thisletter, and of thatwhichthey had seenconcerningthismatter, and which had comeuntothem,
The Jewsordained, and tookuponthem, and upontheirseed, and upon all such as joinedthemselvesuntothem, so as it should not fail, thattheywouldkeepthese two daysaccording to theirwriting, and according to theirappointedtimeeveryyear;
And thatthesedaysshould be remembered and keptthroughouteverygeneration, everyfamily, everyprovince, and everycity; and thatthesedays of Purimshould not failfromamong the Jews, nor the memorial of themperishfromtheirseed.
To confirmthesedays of Purim in theirtimesappointed, according as Mordecai the Jew and Esther the queen had enjoinedthem, and as they had decreed for themselves and for theirseed, the matters of the fastings and their cry.