Esther 9 - 21st Century King James Version (KJ21)

9 Now in the twelfth month (that is, the month of Adar) on the thirteenth day of the same, when the king’s commandment and his decree drew near to be put in execution, in the day that the enemies of the Jews hoped to have power over them (though it was turned to the contrary, so that the Jews had rule over those who hated them),

2 the Jews gathered themselves together in their cities throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus to lay hands on such as sought their hurt; and no man could withstand them, for the fear of them fell upon all people.

3 And all the rulers of the provinces, and the lieutenants and the deputies, and those who did the business that belonged to the king, helped the Jews, because the fear of Mordecai fell upon them.

4 For Mordecai was great in the king’s house, and his fame went out throughout all the provinces; for this man Mordecai waxed greater and greater.

5 Thus the Jews smote all their enemies with the stroke of the sword and slaughter and destruction, and did what they would unto those who hated them.

6 And in the palace in Shushan the Jews slew and destroyed five hundred men.

7 And Parshandatha and Dalphon and Aspatha,

8 and Poratha and Adalia and Aridatha,

9 and Parmashta and Arisai and Aridai and Vajezatha

10 (the ten sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews) they slew; but on the spoil they laid not their hand.

11 On that day the number of those who were slain in the palace at Shushan was brought before the king.

12 And the king said unto Esther the queen, “The Jews have slain and destroyed five hundred men in the palace in Shushan, and the ten sons of Haman. What have they done in the rest of the king’s provinces? Now what is thy petition? And it shall be granted thee. Or what is thy further request? And it shall be done.”

13 Then said Esther, “If it please the king, let it be granted to the Jews who are in Shushan to do tomorrow also according unto this day’s decree, and let Haman’s ten sons be hanged upon the gallows.”

14 And the king commanded it so to be done; and the decree was given at Shushan, and they hanged Haman’s ten sons.

15 For the Jews who were in Shushan gathered themselves together on the fourteenth day also of the month of Adar, and slew three hundred men at Shushan; but on the spoil they laid not their hand.

16 But the other Jews who were in the king’s provinces gathered themselves together and stood for their lives, and had rest from their enemies, and slew of their foes seventy and five thousand; but they laid not their hands on the spoil.

17 On the thirteenth day of the month of Adar, and on the fourteenth day of the same they rested, and made it a day of feasting and gladness.

18 But the Jews who were at Shushan assembled together on the thirteenth day thereof and on the fourteenth thereof; and on the fifteenth day of the same they rested and made it a day of feasting and gladness.

19 Therefore the Jews of the villages who dwelt in the unwalled towns made the fourteenth day of the month of Adar a day of gladness and feasting, and a good day, and of sending portions one to another.

20 And Mordecai wrote these things, and sent letters unto all the Jews who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both nigh and far,

21 to establish this among them: that they should keep the fourteenth day of the month of Adar and the fifteenth day of the same yearly,

22 as the days wherein the Jews rested from their enemies, and the month which was turned unto them from sorrow to joy and from mourning into a good day; that they should make them days of feasting and joy, and of sending portions one to another and gifts to the poor.

23 And the Jews undertook to do as they had begun, and as Mordecai had written unto them,

24 because Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had schemed against the Jews to destroy them, and had cast Pur (that is, the lot) to consume them and to destroy them.

25 But when Esther came before the king, he commanded by letters that this wicked scheme which Haman devised against the Jews should return upon his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows.

26 Therefore they called these days Purim after the name of Pur [that is, Lot]. Therefore for all the words of this letter, and of that which they had seen concerning this matter and what had come upon them,

27 the Jews ordained and took upon them and upon their seed and upon all such as joined themselves unto them, that without fail they would keep these two days according to their writing and according to their appointed time every year;

28 and that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, every family, every province, and every city, and that these days of Purim should not pass from among the Jews, nor the memorial of them perish from their seed.

29 Then Esther the queen, the daughter of Abihail, and Mordecai the Jew, wrote with all authority to confirm this second letter of Purim.

30 And he sent the letters unto all the Jews, to the hundred twenty and seven provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, with words of peace and truth

31 to confirm these days of Purim in their times appointed, according as Mordecai the Jew and Esther the queen had enjoined them, and as they had decreed for themselves and for their seed regarding the matters of the fastings and their cry.

32 And the decree of Esther confirmed these matters of Purim, and it was written in the book.