Esther 9 - NKJV Bible Online

Esther 9

The Jews Destroy Their Tormentors

Now ^ain the twelfth month, that is, the month of Adar, on the thirteenth day, ^bthe time came for the king’s command and his decree to be executed. On the day that the enemies of the Jews had hoped to overpower them, the opposite occurred, in that the Jews themselves ^coverpowered those who hated them. 2 The Jews ^agathered together in their cities throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus to lay hands on those who ^bsought their harm. And no one could withstand them, ^cbecause fear of them fell upon all people. 3 And all the officials of the provinces, the satraps, the governors, and all those doing the king’s work, helped the Jews, because the fear of Mordecai fell upon them. 4 For Mordecai was great in the king’s palace, and his fame spread throughout all the provinces; for this man Mordecai ^abecame increasingly prominent. 5 Thus the Jews defeated all their enemies with the stroke of the sword, with slaughter and destruction, and did what they pleased with those who hated them.
6 And in ^aShushan¹ the ²citadel the Jews killed and destroyed five hundred men. 7 Also Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha, 8 Poratha, Adalia, Aridatha, 9 Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai, and Vajezatha— 10 ^athe ten sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews—they killed; ^bbut they did not lay a hand on the ¹plunder.
11 On that day the number of those who were killed in ¹Shushan the ²citadel ³was brought to the king. 12 And the king said to Queen Esther, “The Jews have killed and destroyed five hundred men in Shushan the citadel, and the ten sons of Haman. What have they done in the rest of the king’s provinces? Now ^awhat is your petition? It shall be granted to you. Or what is your further request? It shall be done.”
13 Then Esther said, “If it pleases the king, let it be granted to the Jews who are in Shushan to do again tomorrow ^aaccording to today’s decree, and let Haman’s ten sons ^bbe hanged on the gallows.”
14 So the king commanded this to be done; the decree was issued in Shushan, and they hanged Haman’s ten sons.
15 And the Jews who were in ¹Shushan ^agathered together again on the fourteenth day of the month of Adar and killed three hundred men at Shushan; ^bbut they did not lay a hand on the plunder.
16 The remainder of the Jews in the king’s provinces ^agathered together and protected their lives, had rest from their enemies, and killed seventy-five thousand of their enemies; ^bbut they did not lay a hand on the plunder. 17 This was on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar. And on the fourteenth of ¹the month they rested and made it a day of feasting and gladness.

The Feast of Purim

18 But the Jews who were at ¹Shushan assembled together ^aon the thirteenth day, as well as on the fourteenth; and on the fifteenth of ²the month they rested, and made it a day of feasting and gladness. 19 Therefore the Jews of the villages who dwelt in the unwalled towns celebrated the fourteenth day of the month of Adar ^awith gladness and feasting, ^bas a holiday, and for ^csending presents to one another.
20 And Mordecai wrote these things and sent letters to all the Jews, near and far, who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, 21 to establish among them that they should celebrate yearly the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month of Adar, 22 as the days on which the Jews had rest from their enemies, as the month which was turned from sorrow to joy for them, and from mourning to a holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and joy, of ^asending presents to one another and gifts to the ^bpoor. 23 So the Jews accepted the custom which they had begun, as Mordecai had written to them, 24 because Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, ^ahad plotted against the Jews to annihilate them, and had cast Pur (that is, the lot), to consume them and destroy them; 25 but ^awhen ¹Esther came before the king, he commanded by letter that ²this wicked plot which Haman had devised against the Jews should ^breturn on his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows.
26 So they called these days Purim, after the name ¹Pur. Therefore, because of all the words of ^athis letter, what they had seen concerning this matter, and what had happened to them, 27 the Jews established and imposed it upon themselves and their descendants and all who would ^ajoin them, that without fail they should celebrate these two days every year, according to the written instructions and according to the prescribed time, 28 that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, every family, every province, and every city, that these days of Purim should not fail to be observed among the Jews, and that the memory of them should not perish among their descendants.
29 Then Queen Esther, ^athe daughter of Abihail, with Mordecai the Jew, wrote with full authority to confirm this ^bsecond letter about Purim. 30 And Mordecai sent letters to all the Jews, to ^athe one hundred and twenty-seven provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, with words of peace and truth, 31 to confirm these days of Purim at their appointed time, as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther had prescribed for them, and as they had decreed for themselves and their descendants concerning matters of their ^afasting and lamenting. 32 So the decree of Esther confirmed these matters of Purim, and it was written in the book.

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