June 6

Esther 8:1 — 10:3

8 On that day King Ahasuerus gave to Esther the queen the house of Haman, the one showing hostility to the Jews; and Mordecai himself came in before the king, because Esther had told what he was to her. 2 Then the king removed his signet ring that he had taken away from Haman and gave it to Mordecai; and Esther went on to place Mordecai over the house of Haman.

3 Moreover, Esther spoke again before the king and fell down before his feet and wept and implored favor of him to turn away the badness of Haman the Agagite and his scheme that he had schemed against the Jews. 4 Then the king held the golden scepter out to Esther, at which Esther rose and stood before the king. 5 She now said: “If to the king it does seem good, and if I have found favor before him and the thing is proper before the king and I am good in his eyes, let it be written to undo the written documents, the scheme of Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, which he wrote to destroy the Jews that are in all the king’s jurisdictional districts. 6 For how can I [bear it] when I must look upon the calamity that will find my people, and how can I [bear it] when I must look upon the destruction of my relatives?”

7 So King Ahasuerus said to Esther the queen and to Mordecai the Jew: “Look! The house of Haman I have given to Esther, and him they have hanged on the stake, for the reason that he thrust out his hand against the Jews. 8 And YOU yourselves write in behalf of the Jews according to what is good in YOUR own eyes in the king’s name and seal [it] with the king’s signet ring; for a writing that is written in the king’s name and sealed with the king’s signet ring it is not possible to undo.”

9 Accordingly the secretaries of the king were called at that time in the third month, that is, the month of Sivan, on the twenty-third [day] of it; and writing went on according to all that Mordecai commanded to the Jews and to the satraps and the governors and the princes of the jurisdictional districts that were from India to Ethiopia, a hundred and twenty-seven jurisdictional districts, [to] each jurisdictional district in its own style of writing and [to] each people in its own tongue, and to the Jews in their own style of writing and in their own tongue.

10 And he proceeded to write in the name of King Ahasuerus and do the sealing with the king’s signet ring and send written documents by the hand of the couriers on horses, riding post horses used in the royal service, sons of speedy mares, 11 that the king granted to the Jews that were in all the different cities to congregate themselves and stand for their souls, to annihilate and kill and destroy all the force of the people and jurisdictional district that were showing hostility to them, little ones and women, and to plunder their spoil, 12 on the one day in all the jurisdictional districts of King Ahasuerus, on the thirteenth [day] of the twelfth month, that is, the month of Adar. 13 A copy of the writing was to be given as law throughout all the different jurisdictional districts, published to all the peoples, that the Jews should become ready for this day to avenge themselves upon their enemies. 14 The couriers themselves, riding post horses used in the royal service, went forth, being urged forward and being moved with speed by the king’s word; and the law itself was given out in Shushan the castle.

15 As for Mordecai, he went forth from before the king in royal apparel of blue and linen, with a great crown of gold, and a fine-fabric cloak, even of wool dyed reddish purple. And the city of Shushan itself cried out shrilly and was joyful. 16 For the Jews there occurred light and rejoicing and exultation and honor. 17 And in all the different jurisdictional districts and in all the different cities wherever the word of the king and his law were reaching there were rejoicing and exultation for the Jews, a banquet and a good day; and many of the peoples of the land were declaring themselves Jews, for the dread of the Jews had fallen upon them.

9 And in the twelfth month, that is, the month of Adar, on the thirteenth day of it, when the king’s word and his law came due to be performed, on the day for which the enemies of the Jews had waited to domineer over them, there was even a turning to the contrary, in that the Jews themselves domineered over those hating them. 2 The Jews congregated themselves in their cities in all the jurisdictional districts of King Ahasuerus to lay hand on those seeking their injury, and not a man stood his ground before them, for the dread of them had fallen upon all the peoples. 3 And all the princes of the jurisdictional districts and the satraps and the governors and the doers of the business that belonged to the king were assisting the Jews, for the dread of Mordecai had fallen upon them. 4 For Mordecai was great in the king’s house and his fame was traveling throughout all the jurisdictional districts, because the man Mordecai was steadily growing greater.

5 And the Jews went striking down all their enemies with a slaughter by the sword and with a killing and destruction, and they went doing to those hating them according to their liking. 6 And in Shushan the castle the Jews killed and there was a destroying of five hundred men. 7 Also, Parshandatha and Dalphon and Aspatha 8 and Poratha and Adalia and Aridatha 9 and Parmashta and Arisai and Aridai and Vaizatha, 10 the ten sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the one showing hostility to the Jews, they killed; but on the plunder they did not lay their hand.

11 On that day the number of those killed in Shushan the castle came before the king.

12 And the king proceeded to say to Esther the queen: “In Shushan the castle the Jews have killed, and there has been a destroying of five hundred men and the ten sons of Haman. In the rest of the jurisdictional districts of the king what have they done? And what is your petition? Let it even be given to you. And what is your further request? Let it even be done.” 13 Accordingly Esther said: “If to the king it does seem good, let it be granted tomorrow also to the Jews that are in Shushan to do according to the law of today; and let the ten sons of Haman be hanged upon the stake.” 14 So the king said for it to be done that way. Then a law was given out in Shushan, and the ten sons of Haman were hanged.

15 And the Jews that were in Shushan proceeded to congregate themselves also on the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and they got to kill in Shushan three hundred men; but on the plunder they did not lay their hand.

16 As for the rest of the Jews that were in the jurisdictional districts of the king, they congregated themselves, and there was a stand for their souls, and there was an avenging of themselves upon their enemies and a killing among those hating them of seventy-five thousand; but on the plunder they did not lay their hand, 17 on the thirteenth day of the month Adar; and there was a rest on the fourteenth [day] of it, and there was a making of it a day of banqueting and of rejoicing.

18 As for the Jews that were in Shushan, they congregated themselves on the thirteenth [day] of it and on the fourteenth [day] of it, and there was a rest on the fifteenth [day] of it, and there was a making of it a day of banqueting and of rejoicing. 19 That is why the country Jews, inhabiting the cities of the outlying districts, were making the fourteenth day of the month Adar a rejoicing and a banqueting and a good day and a sending of portions to one another.

20 And Mordecai proceeded to write these things and send written documents to all the Jews that were in all the jurisdictional districts of King Ahasuerus, the nearby and the distant ones, 21 to impose upon them the obligation to be regularly holding the fourteenth day of the month Adar and the fifteenth day of it in each and every year, 22 according to the days on which the Jews had rested from their enemies and the month that was changed for them from grief to rejoicing and from mourning to a good day, to hold them as days of banqueting and rejoicing and sending of portions to one another and of gifts to the poor people.

23 And the Jews accepted what they had started to do and what Mordecai had written to them. 24 For Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the one showing hostility to all the Jews, had himself schemed against the Jews to destroy them, and he had had Pur, that is, the Lot, cast, to disquiet them and destroy them. 25 But when Esther came in before the king he said with the written document: “Let his bad scheme that he has schemed against the Jews come back upon his own head”; and they hanged him and his sons upon the stake. 26 That is why they called these days Purim, by the name of the Pur. That is why, according to all the words of this letter and what they had seen as to this and what had come upon them, 27 the Jews imposed and accepted upon themselves and upon their offspring and upon all those joining themselves to them, that it should not pass away, the obligation to be regularly holding these two days according to what was written concerning them and according to their appointed time in each and every year. 28 And these days were to be remembered and held in each and every generation, each family, each jurisdictional district and each city, and these days of Purim themselves should not pass away from the midst of the Jews and the commemoration itself of them not come to an end among their offspring.

29 And Esther the queen, the daughter of Abihail, and Mordecai the Jew proceeded to write with all forcefulness to confirm this second letter concerning Purim. 30 Then he sent written documents to all the Jews in the one hundred and twenty-seven jurisdictional districts, the realm of Ahasuerus, [in] words of peace and truth, 31 to confirm these days of Purim at their appointed times, just as Mordecai the Jew and Esther the queen had imposed upon them, and just as they had imposed upon their own soul and upon their offspring, the matters of the fasts and their cry for aid. 32 And the very saying of Esther confirmed these matters of Purim, and it was written down in a book.

10 And King Ahasuerus proceeded to lay forced labor upon the land and the isles of the sea.

2 As for all his energetic work and his mightiness and the exact statement of Mordecai’s greatness with which the king magnified him, are they not written in the Book of the affairs of the times of the kings of Media and Persia? 3 For Mordecai the Jew was second to King Ahasuerus and was great among the Jews and approved by the multitude of his brothers, working for the good of his people and speaking peace to all their offspring.