16;
16 For the Jews it was a time of
happiness and
joy,
gladness and honor. (7)
9 At once the royal
secretaries were summoned—on the twenty-third day of the third month, the month
of Sivan. They wrote out
all Mordecai’s orders to the Jews, and to the satraps, governors and nobles of
the 127 provinces stretching from India to Cush. These orders were
written in the script of each province and the language of each people and also
to the Jews in their own script and language.
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17 In
every province and in every city to which the edict of the king came, there was
joy and gladness among the Jews, with feasting and celebrating. And many people
of other nationalities became Jews because fear of the Jews had seized them. (8)
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8 Now
write another decree in the king’s name in behalf of the Jews as seems best to
you, and seal it with the king’s signet ring—for no document written in the
king’s name and sealed with his ring can be revoked.” (8)
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7 King Xerxes replied
to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, “Because Haman attacked the Jews, I
have given his estate to Esther, and they have impaled him on the pole he set
up.
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12 The
day appointed for the Jews to do this in all the provinces of King Xerxes was
the thirteenth day of the twelfth
month, the month of Adar.
(3)
13 A copy of the text of
the edict was to be issued as law in every province and made known to the
people of every nationality so that the Jews would be ready on that day to
avenge themselves on their enemies.
14 The couriers,
riding the royal horses, went out, spurred on by the king’s command, and the
edict was issued in the citadel of Susa.
The Triumph of the
Jews
15 When Mordecai left
the king’s presence, he was wearing royal garments of blue and white, a large
crown of gold and a purple robe of fine
linen. And the city of Susa held a joyous celebration.
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3 Esther
again pleaded with the king, falling at his feet and weeping. She begged him to
put an end to the evil plan of Haman the Agagite, which he had devised against
the Jews. (3)
4 Then the king
extended the gold scepter to Esther and she arose and stood before him.
5 “If it pleases the
king,” she said, “and if he regards me with favor and thinks it the right thing
to do, and if he is pleased with me, let an order be written overruling the
dispatches that Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, devised and wrote to
destroy the Jews in all the king’s provinces.
6 For how can I bear
to see disaster fall on my people? How can I bear to see the destruction of my
family?”
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10 Mordecai
wrote in the name of King Xerxes, sealed the dispatches with the king’s signet
ring, and sent them by mounted couriers, who rode fast horses especially bred
for the king. (1)
11 The king’s edict
granted the Jews in every city the right to assemble and protect themselves; to
destroy, kill and annihilate the armed men of any nationality or province who
might attack them and their women and children, and to plunder the property of
their enemies.
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The King’s Edict in
Behalf of the Jews
8 That same day King Xerxes gave Queen Esther the estate of Haman,
the enemy of the Jews. And Mordecai came into the presence of the king, for
Esther had told how he was related to her. (1)
2 The king took off
his signet ring, which he had reclaimed from Haman, and presented it to
Mordecai. And Esther appointed him over Haman’s estate.
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Esther 9
32;
32 Esther’s decree confirmed these
regulations about Purim, and it was
written down in the records. (5)
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27 the
Jews took it on themselves to establish the custom that they and their
descendants and all who join them should without fail observe these two
days every year, in the way
prescribed and at the time appointed. (9)
28 These days should
be remembered and observed in every generation by every family, and in every
province and in every city. And these days of Purim should never fail to be
celebrated by the Jews—nor should the memory of these days die out among their
descendants.
29 So Queen Esther,
daughter of Abihail, along with Mordecai the Jew, wrote with full authority to
confirm this second
letter
concerning Purim.
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18 The
Jews in Susa, however, had assembled on the thirteenth and fourteenth,
and then on the fifteenth they rested and made it a day of feasting and joy. (9)
19 That is why rural
Jews—those living in villages—observe the fourteenth of the month of Adar as a day of joy
and feasting, a day for giving presents to each other.
Purim Established
20 Mordecai recorded
these events, and he sent letters to all the Jews throughout the provinces of
King Xerxes, near and far,
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9 Parmashta,
Arisai, Aridai and Vaizatha,
(9)
10 the ten sons of Haman son of
Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews. But they did not lay their hands on the plunder.
11 The number of those
killed in the citadel of Susa was reported to the king that same day.
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24 For
Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had plotted
against the Jews to destroy them and had cast the pur (that is, the lot)
for their ruin and destruction.
(6)
25 But when the plot
came to the king’s attention, he issued written orders that the evil scheme Haman had
devised against the Jews should come back onto his own head, and that he
and his sons should be impaled on poles.
26 (Therefore these
days were called Purim, from the word pur.)
Because of everything written in this letter and because of what they had seen
and what had happened to them,
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15 The
Jews in Susa came together on the
fourteenth day of the month of Adar,
and they put to death in Susa three hundred
men, but they did not lay
their hands on the plunder. (6)
16 Meanwhile, the
remainder of the Jews who were in the king’s provinces also assembled to
protect themselves and get relief from their enemies. They killed seventy-five thousand of them but did not lay their hands on the
plunder.
17 This happened on
the thirteenth day of the month of Adar, and on the fourteenth they rested and made it a day
of feasting and joy.
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6 In
the citadel of Susa, the Jews killed and destroyed five
hundred men.
(6)
7 They also killed Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha,
8 Poratha, Adalia, Aridatha,
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30 And
Mordecai sent letters to all the Jews in the 127 provinces of Xerxes’ kingdom—words of goodwill and assurance—
(3)
31 to establish these
days of Purim at their designated
times, as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther had decreed for them, and as they
had established for themselves and their descendants in regard to their times
of fasting and lamentation.
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21 to
have them celebrate annually the
fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month of Adar (3)
22 as the time when the
Jews got relief from their enemies, and as the month when their sorrow was
turned into joy and their mourning into a day of celebration. He wrote them to
observe the days as days of feasting and joy and giving presents of food to one
another and gifts to the poor.
23 So the Jews agreed
to continue the celebration they had begun, doing what Mordecai had written to
them.
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12 The
king said to Queen Esther, “The Jews have killed and destroyed five
hundred men and the ten sons of Haman in the citadel of Susa. What have they done in the
rest of the king’s provinces? Now what is your petition? It will be given you.
What is your request? It will also be granted.” (3)
13 “If it pleases the
king,” Esther answered, “give the Jews in Susa permission to carry out this
day’s edict tomorrow also, and let Haman’s ten sons be impaled on poles.”
14 So the king
commanded that this be done. An edict was issued in Susa, and they impaled the ten sons of Haman.
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9 On the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar, the edict
commanded by the king was to be carried out. On this day the enemies of the
Jews had hoped to overpower them, but now the tables were turned and the Jews
got the upper hand over those who hated them.
2 The Jews assembled
in their cities in all the provinces of King Xerxes to attack those determined
to destroy them. No one could stand against them, because the people of all the
other nationalities were afraid of them.
3 And
all the nobles of the provinces, the satraps, the governors and the king’s
administrators helped the Jews, because fear of Mordecai had seized them. (3)
4 Mordecai was
prominent in the palace; his reputation spread throughout the provinces, and he
became more and more powerful.
5 The Jews struck
down all their enemies with the sword, killing and destroying them, and they
did what they pleased to those who hated them.
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The Greatness of Mordecai !
10 King
Xerxes imposed tribute throughout the empire, to its distant shores.
2 And all his acts of power and might, together with a full account of the greatness of Mordecai, whom the king had promoted, are they not written in the book of the
annals of the kings of Media and Persia?
3 Mordecai the Jew was second in rank to King Xerxes,
preeminent among the Jews, and held in high esteem by his many fellow Jews,
because he worked for the good of his people and spoke up for the welfare of all the Jews.
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