⁵Behold, noisea and confusion, thunders and earthquake, tumult upon the earth! ⁶And behold, two great dragons came forward, both ready to fight, and they roared terribly. ⁷And at their roaring every nation prepared for war, to fight against the nation of the righteous. ⁸And behold, a day of darkness and gloom, tribulation and distress, affliction and great tumult upon the earth! ⁹And the whole righteous nation was troubled; they feared the evils that threatened them, and were ready to perish. ¹⁰Then they cried to God; and from their cry, as though from a tiny spring, there came a great river, with abundant water; ¹¹light came, and the sun rose, and the lowly were exalted and consumed those held in honor.

1In the days of Ahas'u-e'rus, the Ahasu-erus who reigned from India to Ethiopia over one hundred and twenty-seven provinces, ²in those days when King Ahas'u-e'rus sat on his royal throne in Susa the capital, ³in the third year of his reign he gave a banquet for all his princes and servants, the army chiefs^a of Persia and Med'ia and the nobles and governors of the provinces being before him, ⁴while he showed the riches of his royal glory and the splendor and pomp of his majesty for many days, a hundred and eighty days. ⁵And when these days were completed, the king gave for all the people present in Susa the capital, both great and small, a banquet lasting for seven days, in the court of the garden of the king’s palace. ⁶There were white cotton curtains and blue hangings caught up with cords of fine linen and purple to silver rings^b and marble pillars, and also couches of gold and silver on a mosaic pavement of porphyry, marble, mother-of-pearl and precious stones. ⁷Drinks were served in golden goblets, goblets of different kinds, and the royal wine was lavished according to the bounty of the king. ⁸And drinking was according to the law, no one was compelled; for the king had given orders to all the officials of his palace to do as every man desired. ⁹Queen Vashti also gave a banquet for the women in the palace which belonged to King Ahas'u-e'rus.

¹⁰On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry with wine, he commanded Mehu'man, Biztha, Harbo'na, Bigtha and Abagtha, Ze'thar and Car'kas, the seven eunuchs who served King Ahas'u-e'rus as chamberlains, ¹¹to bring Queen Vashti before the king with her royal crown, in order to show the peoples and the princes her beauty; for she was fair to behold. ¹²But Queen Vashti refused to come at the king’s command conveyed by the eunuchs. At this the king was enraged, and his anger burned within him.

¹³Then the king said to the wise men who knew the times—for this was the king’s procedure toward all who were versed in law and judgment, ¹⁴the men next to him being Carshe'na, She'thar, Adma'tha, Tar'shish, Me'res, Marse'na, and Memu'can, the seven princes of Persia and Med'ia, who saw the king’s face, and sat first in the kingdom—: ¹⁵“According to the law, what is to be done to Queen Vashti, because she has not performed the command of King Ahas'u-e'rus conveyed by the eunuchs?” ¹⁶Then Memu'can said in presence of the king and the princes, “Not only to the king has Queen Vashti done wrong, but also to all the princes and all the peoples who are in all the provinces of King Ahas'u-e'rus. ¹⁷For this deed of the queen will be made known to all women, causing them to look with contempt upon their husbands, since they will say, ‘King Ahas'u-e'rus commanded Queen Vashti to be brought before him, and she did not come.’ ¹⁸This very day the ladies of Persia and Med'ia who have heard of the queen’s behavior will be telling it to all the king’s princes, and there will be contempt and wrath in plenty. ¹⁹If it please the king, let a royal order go forth from him, and let it be written among the laws of the Persians and the Medes so that it may not be altered, that Vashti is to come no more before King Ahas'u-e'rus; and let the king give her royal position to another who is better than she. ²⁰So when the decree made by the king is proclaimed throughout all his kingdom, vast as it is, all women will give honor to their husbands, high and low.” ²¹This advice pleased the king and the princes, and the king did as Memu'can proposed; ²²he sent letters to all the royal provinces, to every province in its own script and to every people in its own language, that every man be lord in his own house and speak according to the language of his people.

⁵Now there was a Jew in Susa the capital whose name was Mor'decai, the son of Ja'ir, son of Shim'e-i, son of Kish, a Benjaminite, ⁶who had been carried away from Jerusalem among the captives carried away with Jeconi'ah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnez'zar king of Babylon had carried away. ⁷He had brought up Hadas'sah, that is Esther, the daughter of his uncle, for she had neither father nor mother; the maiden was beautiful and lovely, and when her father and her mother died, Mor'decai adopted her as his own daughter. ⁸So when the king’s order and his edict were proclaimed, and when many maidens were gathered in Susa the capital in custody of Hegai, Esther also was taken into the king’s palace and put in custody of Hegai who had charge of the women. ⁹And the maiden pleased him and won his favor; and he quickly provided her with her ointments and her portion of food, and with seven chosen maids from the king’s palace, and advanced her and her maids to the best place in the harem. ¹⁰Esther had not made known her people or kindred, for Mor'decai had charged her not to make it known. ¹¹And every day Mor'decai walked in front of the court of the harem, to learn how Esther was and how she fared.

¹²Now when the turn came for each maiden to go in to King Ahas'u-e'rus, after being twelve months under the regulations for the women, since this was the regular period of their beautifying, six months with oil of myrrh and six months with spices and ointments for women—¹³when the maiden went in to the king in this way she was given whatever she desired to take with her from the harem to the king’s palace. ¹⁴In the evening she went, and in the morning she came back to the second harem in custody of Shaash'gaz the king’s eunuch who was in charge of the concubines; she did not go in to the king again, unless the king delighted in her and she was summoned by name.

¹⁵When the turn came for Esther the daughter of Ab'ihail the uncle of Mor'decai, who had adopted her as his own daughter, to go in to the king, she asked for nothing except what Hegai the king’s eunuch, who had charge of the women, advised. Now Esther found favor in the eyes of all who saw her. ¹⁶And when Esther was taken to King Ahas'u-e'rus into his royal palace in the tenth month, which is the month of Te'beth, in the seventh year of his reign, ¹⁷the king loved Esther more than all the women, and she found grace and favor in his sight more than all the virgins, so that he set the royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti. ¹⁸Then the king gave a great banquet to all his princes and servants; it was Esther’s banquet. He also granted a remission of taxes^c to the provinces, and gave gifts with royal liberality.

¹⁹When the virgins were gathered together the second time, Mor'decai was sitting at the king’s gate. ²⁰Now Esther had not made known her kindred or her people, as Mor'decai had charged her; for Esther obeyed Mordecai just as when she was brought up by him. ²¹And in those days, as Mor'decai was sitting at the king’s gate, Bigthan and Te'resh, two of the king’s eunuchs, who guarded the threshold, became angry and sought to lay hands on King Ahas'u-e'rus. ²²And this came to the knowledge of Mor'decai, and he told it to Queen Esther, and Esther told the king in the name of Mordecai. ²³When the affair was investigated and found to be so, the men were both hanged on the gallows. And it was recorded in the Book of the Chronicles in the presence of the king.

⁷In the first month, which is the month of Ni'san, in the twelfth year of King Ahas'u-e'rus, they cast Pur, that is the lot, before Ha'man day after day; and they cast it month after month till the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar'. ⁸Then Ha'man said to King Ahas'u-e'rus, “There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom; their laws are different from those of every other people, and they do not keep the king’s laws, so that it is not for the king’s profit to tolerate them. ⁹If it please the king, let it be decreed that they be destroyed, and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those who have charge of the king’s business, that they may put it into the king’s treasuries.” ¹⁰So the king took his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Ha'man the Ag'agite, the son of Hammeda'tha, the enemy of the Jews. ¹¹And the king said to Ha'man, “The money is given to you, the people also, to do with them as it seems good to you.”

¹²Then the king’s secretaries were summoned on the thirteenth day of the first month, and an edict, according to all that Ha'man commanded, was written to the king’s satraps and to the governors over all the provinces and to the princes of all the peoples, to every province in its own script and every people in its own language; it was written in the name of King Ahas'u-e'rus and sealed with the king’s ring. ¹³Letters were sent by couriers to all the king’s provinces, to destroy, to slay, and to annihilate all Jews, young and old, women and children, in one day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar', and to plunder their goods.

³“When I asked my counselors how this might be accomplished, Haman, who excels among us in sound judgment, and is distinguished for his unchanging good will and steadfast fidelity, and has attained the second place in the kingdom, ⁴pointed out to us that among all the nations in the world there is scattered a certain hostile people, who have laws contrary to those of every nation and continually disregard the ordinances of the kings, so that the unifying of the kingdom which we honorably intend cannot be brought about. ⁵We understand that this people, and it alone, stands constantly in opposition to all men, perversely following a strange manner of life and laws, and is ill-disposed to our government, doing all the harm they can so that our kingdom may not attain stability.

⁶“Therefore we have decreed that those indicated to you in the letters of Haman, who is in charge of affairs and is our second father, shall all, with their wives and children, be utterly destroyed by the sword of their enemies, without pity or mercy, on the fourteenth day of the twelfth month, Adar, of this present year, ⁷so that those who have long been and are now hostile may in one day go down in violence to Hades, and leave our government completely secure and untroubled hereafter.”

⁴When Esther’s maids and her eunuchs came and told her, the queen was deeply distressed; she sent garments to clothe Mor'decai, so that he might take off his sackcloth, but he would not accept them. ⁵Then Esther called for Ha'thach, one of the king’s eunuchs, who had been appointed to attend her, and ordered him to go to Mor'decai to learn what this was and why it was. ⁶Ha'thach went out to Mor'decai in the open square of the city in front of the king’s gate, ⁷and Mor'decai told him all that had happened to him, and the exact sum of money that Ha'man had promised to pay into the king’s treasuries for the destruction of the Jews. ⁸Mor'decai also gave him a copy of the written decree issued in Susa for their destruction, that he might show it to Esther and explain it to her and charge her to go to the king to make supplication to him and entreat him for her people,“Remembering the days of your lowliness, when you were cared for by me, because Haman, who is next to the king, spoke against us for our destruction. Beseech the Lord and speak to the king concerning us and deliver us from death.” ⁹And Ha'thach went and told Esther what Mor'decai had said. ¹⁰Then Esther spoke to Ha'thach and gave him a message for Mor'decai, saying, ¹¹“All the king’s servants and the people of the king’s provinces know that if any man or woman goes to the king inside the inner court without being called, there is but one law; all alike are to be put to death, except the one to whom the king holds out the golden scepter that he may live. And I have not been called to come in to the king these thirty days.” ¹²And they told Mor'decai what Esther had said. ¹³Then Mor'decai told them to return answer to Esther, “Think not that in the king’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. ¹⁴For if you keep silence at such a time as this, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another quarter, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” ¹⁵Then Esther told them to reply to Mor'decai, ¹⁶“Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day. I and my maids will also fast as you do. Then I will go to the king, though it is against the law; and if I perish, I perish.” ¹⁷Mor'decai then went away and did everything as Esther had ordered him.

[13] ⁸Then Mordecaib prayed to the Lord, and said: “O God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob, blessed are you:

⁹“O Lord, Lord, King who rule over all things, for the universe is in your power and there is no one who can oppose you if it is your will to save Israel. ¹⁰For you have made heaven and earth and every wonderful thing under heaven, ¹¹and you are Lord of all, and there is no one who can resist you. ¹²You know all things; ¹³you know, O Lord, that I would have been willing to kiss the soles of Haman’s feet to save Israel! ¹⁴But I did not do this, lest I set the glory of man above the glory of God; I will not bow down to any one but you, O Lord, my God. ¹⁵And now, O Lord God and King, God of Abraham, God of Isaac, and God of Jacob, spare your people; for the eyes of our foes are upon usc to annihilate us, and they desire to destroy your inheritance. ¹⁶Do not neglect your portion, which you redeemed for yourself out of the land of Egypt. ¹⁷Hear my prayer, and have mercy upon your inheritance; turn our mourning into feasting, that we may live and sing praise to your name, O Lord; do not destroy the mouth of those who praise you.”

⁷Lifting his face, flushed with splendor, he looked at her in fierce anger. And the queen faltered, and turned pale and faint, and collapsed upon the head of the maid who went before her. ⁸Then God changed the spirit of the king to gentleness, and in alarm he sprang from his throne and took her in his arms until she came to herself. And he comforted her with soothing words, and said to her, ⁹“What is it, Esther? I am your brother. Take courage; ¹⁰you shall not die, for our law applies only to the people.d Come near.”

¹¹Then he raised the golden scepter and touched it to her neck; ¹²and he embraced her, and said, “Speak to me.” ¹³And she said to him, “I saw you, my lord, like an angel of God, and my heart was shaken with fear at your glory. ¹⁴For you are wonderful, my lord, and your countenance is full of grace.” ¹⁵But as she was speaking, she fell fainting. ¹⁶And the king was agitated, and all his servants sought to comfort her.

[5]³And the king said to her, “What is it, Queen Esther? What is your request? It shall be given you, even to the half of my kingdom.” ⁴And Esther said, “If it please the king, let the king and Ha'man come this day to a dinner that I have prepared for the king.” ⁵Then said the king, “Bring Ha'man quickly, that we may do as Esther desires.” So the king and Ha'man came to the dinner that Esther had prepared. ⁶And as they were drinking wine, the king said to Esther, “What is your petition? It shall be granted you. And what is your request? Even to the half of my kingdom, it shall be fulfilled.” ⁷But Esther said, “My petition and my request is: ⁸If I have found favor in the sight of the king, and if it please the king to grant my petition and fulfil my request, let the king and Ha'man come tomorrow^d to the dinner which I will prepare for them, and tomorrow I will do as the king has said.”

⁹And Ha'man went out that day joyful and glad of heart. But when Haman saw Mor'decai in the king’s gate, that he neither rose nor trembled before him, he was filled with wrath against Mordecai. ¹⁰Nevertheless Ha'man restrained himself, and went home; and he sent and fetched his friends and his wife Ze'resh. ¹¹And Ha'man recounted to them the splendor of his riches, the number of his sons, all the promotions with which the king had honored him, and how he had advanced him above the princes and the servants of the king. ¹²And Ha'man added, “Even Queen Esther let no one come with the king to the banquet she prepared but myself. And tomorrow also I am invited by her together with the king. ¹³Yet all this does me no good, so long as I see Mor'decai the Jew sitting at the king’s gate.” ¹⁴Then his wife Ze'resh and all his friends said to him, “Let a gallows fifty cubits high be made, and in the morning tell the king to have Mor'decai hanged upon it; then go merrily with the king to the dinner.” This counsel pleased Ha'man, and he had the gallows made.

6On that night the king could not sleep; and he gave orders to bring the book of memorable deeds, the chronicles, and they were read before the king. ²And it was found written how Mor'decai had told about Big'thana and Te'resh, two of the king’s eunuchs, who guarded the threshold, and who had sought to lay hands upon King Ahas'u-e'rus. ³And the king said, “What honor or dignity has been bestowed on Mor'decai for this?” The king’s servants who attended him said, “Nothing has been done for him.” ⁴And the king said, “Who is in the court?” Now Ha'man had just entered the outer court of the king’s palace to speak to the king about having Mor'decai hanged on the gallows that he had prepared for him. ⁵So the king’s servants told him, “Ha'man is there, standing in the court.” And the king said, “Let him come in.” ⁶So Ha'man came in, and the king said to him, “What shall be done to the man whom the king delights to honor?” And Haman said to himself, “Whom would the king delight to honor more than me?” ⁷And Ha'man said to the king, “For the man whom the king delights to honor, ⁸let royal robes be brought, which the king has worn, and the horse which the king has ridden, and on whose head a royal crown is set; ⁹and let the robes and the horse be handed over to one of the king’s most noble princes; let him^e clothe the man whom the king delights to honor, and let him^e conduct the man on horseback through the open square of the city, proclaiming before him: ‘Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor.’” ¹⁰Then the king said to Ha'man, “Make haste, take the robes and the horse, as you have said, and do so to Mor'decai the Jew who sits at the king’s gate. Leave out nothing that you have mentioned.” ¹¹So Ha'man took the robes and the horse, and he clothed Mor'decai and made him ride through the open square of the city, proclaiming, “Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor.”

¹²Then Mor'decai returned to the king’s gate. But Ha'man hurried to his house, mourning and with his head covered. ¹³And Ha'man told his wife Ze'resh and all his friends everything that had befallen him. Then his wise men and his wife Zeresh said to him, “If Mor'decai, before whom you have begun to fall, is of the Jewish people, you will not prevail against him but will surely fall before him.”

¹⁴While they were yet talking with him, the king’s eunuchs arrived and brought Ha'man in haste to the banquet that Esther had prepared. 7So the king and Ha'man went in to feast with Queen Esther. ²And on the second day, as they were drinking wine, the king again said to Esther, “What is your petition, Queen Esther? It shall be granted you. And what is your request? Even to the half of my kingdom, it shall be fulfilled.” ³Then Queen Esther answered, “If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it please the king, let my life be given me at my petition, and my people at my request. ⁴For we are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain, and to be annihilated. If we had been sold merely as slaves, men and women, I would have held my peace; for our affliction is not to be compared with the loss to the king.” ⁵Then King Ahas'u-e'rus said to Queen Esther, “Who is he, and where is he, that would presume to do this?” ⁶And Esther said, “A foe and enemy! This wicked Ha'man!” Then Ha'man was in terror before the king and the queen. ⁷And the king rose from the feast in wrath and went into the palace garden; but Ha'man stayed to beg his life from Queen Esther, for he saw that evil was determined against him by the king. ⁸And the king returned from the palace garden to the place where they were drinking wine, as Ha'man was falling on the couch where Esther was; and the king said, “Will he even assault the queen in my presence, in my own house?” As the words left the mouth of the king, they covered Haman’s face. ⁹Then said Harbo'na, one of the eunuchs in attendance on the king, “Moreover, the gallows which Ha'man has prepared for Mor'decai, whose word saved the king, is standing in Haman’s house, fifty cubits high.” ¹⁰And the king said, “Hang him on that.” So they hanged Ha'man on the gallows which he had prepared for Mor'decai. Then the anger of the king abated.

³Then Esther spoke again to the king; she fell at his feet and besought him with tears to avert the evil design of Ha'man the Ag'agite and the plot which he had devised against the Jews. ⁴And the king held out the golden scepter to Esther, ⁵and Esther rose and stood before the king. And she said, “If it please the king, and if I have found favor in his sight, and if the thing seem right before the king, and I be pleasing in his eyes, let an order be written to revoke the letters devised by Ha'man the Ag'agite, the son of Hammeda'tha, which he wrote to destroy the Jews who are in all the provinces of the king. ⁶For how can I endure to see the calamity that is coming to my people? Or how can I endure to see the destruction of my kindred?” ⁷Then King Ahas'u-e'rus said to Queen Esther and to Mor'decai the Jew, “Behold, I have given Esther the house of Ha'man, and they have hanged him on the gallows, because he would lay hands on the Jews. ⁸And you may write as you please with regard to the Jews, in the name of the king, and seal it with the king’s ring; for an edict written in the name of the king and sealed with the king’s ring cannot be revoked.”

⁹The king’s secretaries were summoned at that time, in the third month, which is the month of Si'van, on the twenty-third day; and an edict was written according to all that Mor'decai commanded concerning the Jews to the satraps and the governors and the princes of the provinces from India to Ethiopia, a hundred and twenty-seven provinces, to every province in its own script and to every people in its own language, and also to the Jews in their script and their language. ¹⁰The writing was in the name of King Ahas'u-e'rus and sealed with the king’s ring, and letters were sent by mounted couriers riding on swift horses that were used in the king’s service, bred from the royal stud. ¹¹By these the king allowed the Jews who were in every city to gather and defend their lives, to destroy, to slay, and to annihilate any armed force of any people or province that might attack them, with their children and women, and to plunder their goods, ¹²upon one day throughout all the provinces of King Ahas'u-e'rus, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar'.

²“The more often they are honored by the too great kindness of their benefactors, the more proud do many men become. ³They not only seek to injure our subjects, but in their inability to stand prosperity they even undertake to scheme against their own benefactors. ⁴They not only take away thankfulness from among men, but, carried away by the boasts of those who know nothing of goodness, they suppose that they will escape the evil-hating justice of God, who always sees everything. ⁵And often many of those who are set in places of authority have been made in part responsible for the shedding of innocent blood, and have been involved in irremediable calamities, by the persuasion of friends who have been entrusted with the administration of public affairs, ⁶when these men by the false trickery of their evil natures beguile the sincere good will of their sovereigns.

⁷“What has been wickedly accomplished through the pestilent behavior of those who exercise authority unworthily, can be seen not so much from the more ancient records which we hand on as from investigation of matters close at hand. ⁸For the future we will take care to render our kingdom quiet and peaceable for all men, ⁹by changing our methods and always judging what comes before our eyes with more equitable consideration. ¹⁰For Haman, the son of Hammedatha, a Macedonian (really an alien to the Persian blood, and quite devoid of our kindliness), having become our guest, ¹¹so far enjoyed the good will that we have for every nation that he was called our father and was continually bowed down to by all as the person second to the royal throne. ¹²But, unable to restrain his arrogance, he undertook to deprive us of our kingdom and our life, ¹³and with intricate craft and deceit asked for the destruction of Mordecai, our savior and perpetual benefactor, and of Esther, the blameless partner of our kingdom, together with their whole nation. ¹⁴He thought that in this way he would find us undefended and would transfer the kingdom of the Persians to the Macedonians.

¹⁵“But we find that the Jews, who were consigned to annihilation by this thrice accursed man, are not evildoers but are governed by most righteous laws ¹⁶and are sons of the Most High, the most mighty living God, who has directed the kingdom both for us and for our fathers in the most excellent order.

¹⁷“You will therefore do well not to put in execution the letters sent by Haman the son of Hammedatha, ¹⁸because the man himself who did these things has been hanged at the gate of Susa, with all his household. For God, who rules over all things, has speedily inflicted on him the punishment he deserved.

¹⁹“Therefore post a copy of this letter publicly in every place, and permit the Jews to live under their own laws. ²⁰And give them reinforcements, so that on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, Adar, on that very day they may defend themselves against those who attack them at the time of their affliction. ²¹For God, who rules over all things, has made this day to be a joy to his chosen people instead of a day of destruction for them.

²²“Therefore you shall observe this with all good cheer as a notable day among your commemorative festivals, ²³so that both now and hereafter it may mean salvation for us and the loyal Persians, but that for those who plot against us it may be a reminder of destruction.

¹⁵Then Mor'decai went out from the presence of the king in royal robes of blue and white, with a great golden crown and a mantle of fine linen and purple, while the city of Susa shouted and rejoiced. ¹⁶The Jews had light and gladness and joy and honor. ¹⁷And in every province and in every city, wherever the king’s command and his edict came, there was gladness and joy among the Jews, a feast and a holiday. And many from the peoples of the country declared themselves Jews, for the fear of the Jews had fallen upon them.

¹¹That very day the number of those slain in Susa the capital was reported to the king. ¹²And the king said to Queen Esther, “In Susa the capital the Jews have slain five hundred men and also the ten sons of Ha'man. What then have they done in the rest of the king’s provinces! Now what is your petition? It shall be granted you. And what further is your request? It shall be fulfilled.” ¹³And Esther said, “If it please the king, let the Jews who are in Susa be allowed tomorrow also to do according to this day’s edict. And let the ten sons of Ha'man be hanged on the gallows.” ¹⁴So the king commanded this to be done; a decree was issued in Susa, and the ten sons of Ha'man were hanged. ¹⁵The Jews who were in Susa gathered also on the fourteenth day of the month of Adar' and they slew three hundred men in Susa; but they laid no hands on the plunder.

¹⁶Now the other Jews who were in the king’s provinces also gathered to defend their lives, and got relief from their enemies, and slew seventy-five thousand of those who hated them; but they laid no hands on the plunder. ¹⁷This was on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar', and on the fourteenth day they rested and made that a day of feasting and gladness. ¹⁸But the Jews who were in Susa gathered on the thirteenth day and on the fourteenth, and rested on the fifteenth day, making that a day of feasting and gladness. ¹⁹Therefore the Jews of the villages, who live in the open towns, hold the fourteenth day of the month of Adar' as a day for gladness and feasting and holiday-making, and a day on which they send choice portions to one another.

²⁰And Mor'decai recorded these things, and sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of King Ahas'u-e'rus, both near and far, ²¹enjoining them that they should keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar' and also the fifteenth day of the same, year by year, ²²as the days on which the Jews got relief from their enemies, and as the month that had been turned for them from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and gladness, days for sending choice portions to one another and gifts to the poor.

²³So the Jews undertook to do as they had begun, and as Mor'decai had written to them. ²⁴For Ha'man the Ag'agite, the son of Hammeda'tha, the enemy of all the Jews, had plotted against the Jews to destroy them, and had cast Pur, that is the lot, to crush and destroy them; ²⁵but when Esther came before the king, he gave orders in writing that his wicked plot which he had devised against the Jews should come upon his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows. ²⁶Therefore they called these days Purim, after the term Pur. And therefore, because of all that was written in this letter, and of what they had faced in this matter, and of what had befallen them, ²⁷the Jews ordained and took it upon themselves and their descendants and all who joined them, that without fail they would keep these two days according to what was written and at the time appointed every year, ²⁸that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, in every family, province, and city, and that these days of Purim should never fall into disuse among the Jews, nor should the commemoration of these days cease among their descendants.

²⁹Then Queen Esther, the daughter of Ab'ihail, and Mor'decai the Jew gave full written authority, confirming this second letter about Purim. ³⁰Letters were sent to all the Jews, to the hundred and twenty-seven provinces of the kingdom of Ahas'u-e'rus, in words of peace and truth, ³¹that these days of Purim should be observed at their appointed seasons, as Mor'decai the Jew and Queen Esther enjoined upon the Jews, and as they had laid down for themselves and for their descendants, with regard to their fasts and their lamenting. ³²The command of Queen Esther fixed these practices of Purim, and it was recorded in writing.

⁴And Mordecai said, “These things have come from God. ⁵For I remember the dream that I had concerning these matters, and none of them has failed to be fulfilled. ⁶The tiny spring which became a river, and there was light and the sun and abundant water—the river is Esther, whom the king married and made queen. ⁷The two dragons are Haman and myself. ⁸The nations are those that gathered to destroy the name of the Jews. ⁹And my nation, this is Israel, who cried out to God and were saved. The Lord has saved his people; the Lord has delivered us from all these evils; God has done great signs and wonders, which have not occurred among the nations. ¹⁰For this purpose he made two lots, one for the people of God and one for all the nations. ¹¹And these two lots came to the hour and moment and day of decision before God and among all the nations. ¹²And God remembered his people and vindicated his inheritance. ¹³So they will observe these days in the month of Adar, on the fourteenth and fifteenth of that month, with an assembly and joy and gladness before God, from generation to generation for ever among his people Israel.”

11¹In the fourth year of the reign of Ptolemy and Cleopatra, Dositheus, who said that he was a priest and a Levite,e and Ptolemy his son brought to Egyptf the preceeding Letter of Purim, which they said was genuine and had been translated by Lysimachus the son of Ptolemy, one of the residents of Jerusalem.