9:8. And Phoratha, and Adalia, and Aridatha,
9:9. And Phermesta, and Arisai, and Aridai, and Jezatha.
9:10. And when they had slain them, they would not touch the spoils of
their goods.
9:11. And presently the number of them that were killed in Susan was
brought to the king.
9:12. And he said to the queen: The Jews have killed five hundred men
in the city of Susan, besides the ten sons of Aman: how many dost thou
think they have slain in all the provinces? What askest thou more, and
what wilt thou have me to command to be done?
9:13. And she answered: If it please the king, let it be granted to the
Jews, to do to morrow in Susan as they have done to day, and that the
ten sons of Aman may be hanged upon gibbets.
9:14. And the king commanded that it should be so done. And forthwith
the edict was hung up in Susan, and the ten sons of Aman were hanged.
9:15. And on the fourteenth day of the month Adar the Jews gathered
themselves together, and they killed in Susan three hundred men: but
they took not their substance.
9:16. Moreover through all the provinces which were subject to the
king’s dominion the Jews stood for their lives, and slew their enemies
and persecutors: insomuch that the number of them that were killed
amounted to seventy-five thousand, and no man took any of their goods.
9:17. Now the thirteenth day of the month Adar was the first day with
them all of the slaughter, and on the fourteenth day they left off.
Which they ordained to be kept holy day, so that all times hereafter
they should celebrate it with feasting, joy, and banquets.
9:18. But they that were killing in the city of Susan, were employed in
the slaughter on the thirteenth and fourteenth day of the same month:
and on the fifteenth day they rested. And therefore they appointed that
day to be a holy day of feasting and gladness.
9:19. But those Jews that dwelt in towns not walled and in villages,
appointed the fourteenth day of the month Adar for banquets and
gladness, so as to rejoice on that day, and send one another portions
of their banquets and meats.
9:20. And Mardochai wrote all these things, and sent them comprised in
letters to the Jews that abode in all the king’s provinces, both those
that lay near and those afar off,
9:21. That they should receive the fourteenth and fifteenth day of the
month Adar for holy days, and always at the return of the year should
celebrate them with solemn honour:
9:22. Because on those days the Jews revenged themselves of their
enemies, and their mourning and sorrow were turned into mirth and joy,
and that these should be days of feasting and gladness, in which they
should send one to another portions of meats, and should give gifts to
the poor.
9:23. And the Jews undertook to observe with solemnity all they had
begun to do at that time, which Mardochai by letters had commanded to
be done.
9:24. For Aman, the son of Amadathi of the race of Agag, the enemy and
adversary of the Jews, had devised evil against them, to kill them and
destroy them; and had cast Phur, that is, the lot.
9:25. And afterwards Esther went in to the king, beseeching him that
his endeavours might be made void by the king’s letters: and the evil
that he had intended against the Jews, might return upon his own head.
And so both he and his sons were hanged upon gibbets.
9:26. And since that time these days are called Phurim, that is, of
lots: because Phur, that is, the lot, was cast into the urn. And all
things that were done, are contained in the volume of this epistle,
that is, of this book:
9:27. And the things that they suffered, and that were afterwards
changed, the Jews took upon themselves and their seed, and upon all
that had a mind to be joined to their religion, so that it should be
lawful for none to pass these days without solemnity: which the writing
testifieth, and certain times require, as the years continually succeed
one another.
9:28. These are the days which shall never be forgot: and which all
provinces in the whole world shall celebrate throughout all
generations: neither is there any city wherein the days of Phurim, that
is, of lots, must not be observed by the Jews, and by their posterity,
which is bound to these ceremonies.
9:29. And Esther the queen, the daughter of Abihail, and Mardochai the
Jew, wrote also a second epistle, that with all diligence this day
should be established a festival for the time to come.
9:30. And they sent to all the Jews that were in the hundred and
twenty-seven provinces of king Assuerus, that they should have peace,
and receive truth,
9:31. And observe the days of lots, and celebrate them with joy in
their proper time: as Mardochai and Esther had appointed, and they
undertook them to be observed by themselves and by their seed, fasts,
and cries, and the days of lots,
9:32. And all things which are contained in the history of this book,
which is called Esther.