And the letters were sent by posts into all the king's provinces, to destroy, to kill, and to cause to perish, all Jews, both young and old, little children and women, in one day, even upon the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, and to take the spoil of them for a prey.

A copy of the text, issued as law throughout every province, was distributed to all the peoples so that they might get ready for that day.

The posts went out, being hastened by the king's commandment, and the decree was given in Shushan the palace. And the king and Haman sat down to drink; but the city Shushan was perplexed.

Now when Mordecai saw what was done, pulling off his robe, he put on haircloth, with dust on his head, and went out into the middle of the town, crying out with a loud and bitter cry.

And came even before the king's gate: for none might enter into the king's gate clothed with sackcloth.

And in every province, whithersoever the king's commandment and his decree came, there was great mourning among the Jews, and fasting, and weeping, and wailing; and many lay in sackcloth and ashes.

So Esther's maids and her chamberlains came and told it her. Then was the queen exceedingly grieved; and she sent raiment to clothe Mordecai, and to take away his sackcloth from him: but he received it not.

Then called Esther for Hatach, one of the king's chamberlains, whom he had appointed to attend upon her, and gave him a commandment to Mordecai, to know what it was, and why it was.

So Hatach went forth to Mordecai unto the street of the city, which was before the king's gate.

And Mordecai told him of all that had happened unto him, and of the sum of the money that Haman had promised to pay to the king's treasuries for the Jews, to destroy them.

Mordecai also gave him a copy of the written decree issued in Susa ordering their destruction, so that Hathach might show it to Esther, explain it to her, and command her to approach the king, implore his favor, and plead with him personally for her people.

Hathach came and repeated Mordecai’s response to Esther.

Then Esther sent Hathach to say to Mordecai:

All the king's servants, and the people of the king's provinces, do know, that whosoever, whether man or woman, shall come unto the king into the inner court, who is not called, there is one law of his to put him to death, except such to whom the king shall hold out the golden sceptre, that he may live: but I have not been called to come in unto the king these thirty days.

And they told to Mordecai Esther's words.

Then Mordecai commanded to answer Esther, Think not with thyself that thou shalt escape in the king's house, more than all the Jews.

For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father's house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?

Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: I also and my maidens will fast likewise; and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish.

So Mordecai went his way, and did according to all that Esther had commanded him.

Now it came to pass on the third day, that Esther put on her royal apparel, and stood in the inner court of the king's house, over against the king's house: and the king sat upon his royal throne in the royal house, over against the gate of the house.

And it was so, when the king saw Esther the queen standing in the court, that she obtained favour in his sight: and the king held out to Esther the golden sceptre that was in his hand. So Esther drew near, and touched the top of the sceptre.

The king asked her, "What do you want, Queen Esther? What is your request? Even if it's half of the kingdom, it will be given to you."

Esther replied, "If the king is so inclined, let the king and Haman come today to the banquet that I have prepared for him."

Then the king said, Cause Haman to make haste, that he may do as Esther hath said. So the king and Haman came to the banquet that Esther had prepared.

As they drank their wine at the banquet, the king said to Esther, “What is your petition? It shall be granted to you. And what is your request? Even to half of the kingdom it shall be done.”

So Esther replied, “My petition and my request is:

If I have found grace in the sight of the king, and if it please the king to grant my petition, and to perform my request, let the king and Haman come to the banquet that I shall prepare for them, and I will do to-morrow according to the king's word.

Then went Haman forth that day joyful and with a glad heart: but when Haman saw Mordecai in the king's gate, that he stood not up, nor moved for him, he was full of indignation against Mordecai.

And Haman recounted to them the splendor of his wealth and the number of his sons and all [the ways] that the king had honored him and promoted him above the officials and king's servants.

“What’s more,” Haman added, “Queen Esther invited no one but me to join the king at the banquet she had prepared. I am invited again tomorrow to join her with the king.

Yet all this availeth me nothing, so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king's gate.

And Zeresh his wife and all of his friends said to him, "Let them make a gallows fifty cubits high, and in the morning tell the king, "Let them hang Mordecai on it; then go with the king to the banquet happily." The advice pleased Haman, so he had the gallows made.

During that night the king's sleep escaped [him], and he gave orders to bring the {scroll of records and chronicles}, and they were read before the king.

And it was found written, that Mordecai had told of Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king's chamberlains, the keepers of the door, who sought to lay hand on the king Ahasuerus.

And the king said, What honour and dignity hath been done to Mordecai for this? Then said the king's servants that ministered unto him, There is nothing done for him.

And the king said, Who is in the court? Now Haman was come into the outward court of the king's house, to speak unto the king to hang Mordecai on the gallows that he had prepared for him.

And the king's servants said unto him, Behold, Haman standeth in the court. And the king said, Let him come in.

So Haman came in. And the king said unto him, What shall be done unto the man whom the king delighteth to honour? Now Haman thought in his heart, To whom would the king delight to do honour more than to myself?

So Haman said to the king, "For a man whom the king wishes to honor,

And let this apparel and horse be delivered to the hand of one of the king's most noble princes, that they may array the man withal whom the king delighteth to honour, and bring him on horseback through the street of the city, and proclaim before him, Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delighteth to honour.

Then the king said to Haman, Make haste, and take the apparel and the horse, as thou hast said, and do even so to Mordecai the Jew, that sitteth at the king's gate: let nothing fail of all that thou hast spoken.

So Haman took the clothing and the horse, and he clothed Mordecai and let him ride through the public square of the city; and he proclaimed before him, "Thus, it is done to the man whom the king wishes to honor."

And Mordecai came again to the king's gate. But Haman hasted to his house mourning, and having his head covered.

and Haman recounteth to Zeresh his wife, and to all his friends, all that hath met him, and his wise men say to him, and Zeresh his wife, 'If Mordecai is of the seed of the Jews, before whom thou hast begun to fall, thou art not able for him, but dost certainly fall before him.'

And while they were yet talking with him, came the king's chamberlains, and hasted to bring Haman unto the banquet that Esther had prepared.

So the king and Haman came to banquet with Esther the queen.

On the second day the king again told Esther as they drank wine, "What's your petition, Queen Esther? It will be given to you. What's your request? Up to half of the kingdom, and it will be done."

Then Esther the queen, answering, said, If I have your approval, O king, and if it is the king's pleasure, let my life be given to me in answer to my prayer, and my people at my request:

For we are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish. But if we had been sold for bondmen and bondwomen, I had held my tongue, although the enemy could not countervail the king's damage.

Then the king Ahasuerus answered and said unto Esther the queen, Who is he, and where is he, that durst presume in his heart to do so?

Esther replied, "An adversary and an enemy it's this wicked Haman!" So Haman was terrified before the king and the queen.

And the king arising from the banquet of wine in his wrath went into the palace garden: and Haman stood up to make request for his life to Esther the queen; for he saw that there was evil determined against him by the king.

Then the king returned out of the palace garden into the place of the banquet of wine; and Haman was fallen upon the bed whereon Esther was. Then said the king, Will he force the queen also before me in the house? As the word went out of the king's mouth, they covered Haman's face.

And Habrona, one of the eunuchs in the presence of the king, said, "Look, the same gallows that Haman had prepared for Mordecai who spoke good [for the sake] of the king stands at Haman's house, fifty cubits high." And the king said, "Hang him on it."

So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then was the king's wrath pacified.

That same day King Ahasuerus awarded Queen Esther the estate of Haman, the enemy of the Jews. Mordecai entered the king’s presence because Esther had revealed her relationship to Mordecai.

And the king removed his signet ring that he had taken away from Haman, and he gave it to Mordecai. So Esther set Mordecai over the house of Haman.

And Esther again spoke before the king, and she fell before his feet and wept, pleading for his grace to avert Haman the Agagite's evil [plan] and the plot that he devised against the Jews.

Then the king held out the golden sceptre toward Esther. So Esther arose, and stood before the king,

And said, If it please the king, and if I have found favour in his sight, and the thing seem right before the king, and I be pleasing in his eyes, let it be written to reverse the letters devised by Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, which he wrote to destroy the Jews which are in all the king's provinces:

For how can I endure to see the evil that shall come unto my people? or how can I endure to see the destruction of my kindred?

And King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, "Look, I have given Haman's house to Esther, and they have hanged him on the gallows because he {plotted against} the Jews.

Write ye also for the Jews, as it liketh you, in the king's name, and seal it with the king's ring: for the writing which is written in the king's name, and sealed with the king's ring, may no man reverse.

Then were the king's scribes called at that time in the third month, that is, the month Sivan, on the three and twentieth day thereof; and it was written according to all that Mordecai commanded unto the Jews, and to the lieutenants, and the deputies and rulers of the provinces which are from India unto Ethiopia, an hundred twenty and seven provinces, unto every province according to the writing thereof, and unto every people after their language, and to the Jews according to their writing, and according to their language.

And he wrote in the king Ahasuerus' name, and sealed it with the king's ring, and sent letters by posts on horseback, and riders on mules, camels, and young dromedaries:

The king’s edict gave the Jews in each and every city the right to assemble and defend themselves, to destroy, kill, and annihilate every ethnic and provincial army hostile to them, including women and children, and to take their possessions as spoils of war.

A copy of the {edict} [was] to be given [as] law in each province to inform all the people, so that the Jews would be ready on that day to avenge themselves from their enemies.

So the posts that rode upon mules and camels went out, being hastened and pressed on by the king's commandment. And the decree was given at Shushan the palace.

Mordecai went from the king’s presence clothed in royal purple and white, with a great gold crown and a purple robe of fine linen. The city of Susa shouted and rejoiced,

And in every province, and in every city, whithersoever the king's commandment and his decree came, the Jews had joy and gladness, a feast and a good day. And many of the people of the land became Jews; for the fear of the Jews fell upon them.

Now in the twelfth month, that is, the month 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, that the Jews had rule over them that hated them;)

And all the princes of the provinces, and the satraps, and the governors, and they that did the king's business, helped the Jews; because the fear of Mordecai was fallen upon them.

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.

So the Jews struck all their enemies with the sword, killing and destroying them; and they did what they pleased to those who hated them.

the ten sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Jew's enemy, slew they; but on the spoil they laid not their hand.

On that same day the number of those killed in Susa the citadel was brought to the king's attention.

And the king said unto Esther the queen, The Jews have slain and destroyed five hundred men in Shushan the palace, 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 request further? and it shall be done.

Then said Esther, If it please the king, let it be granted to the Jews which are in Shushan to do to morrow also according unto this day's decree, and let Haman's ten sons be hanged upon the gallows.

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

So the Jews who were in Shusan assembled themselves together, on the fourteenth day also, of the month Adar, and slew in Shusan three hundred men, - but, on the spoil, thrust they not forth their hand.

But the other Jews that 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 prey,

So the Jews of the country places living in unwalled towns make the fourteenth day of the month Adar a day of feasting and joy and a good day, a day for sending offerings one to another.

And Mordecai will write these words, and send letters to all the Jews that were in all the king Ahasuerus's provinces, near and far off,

So the Jews undertook what they had started to do, and what Mordecai had written to them.

since Hammedatha's son Haman, the enemy of the Jewish people, had plotted against the Jewish people to destroy them, and he had cast the (that is, the lot) to determine when to confuse and destroy them.

But when it came before the king, he commanded in writing that Haman’s wicked scheme which he had devised against the Jews was to return on his own head, and that he and his sons should [endure what he planned for the Jews and] be hanged on the gallows.

So these days were named Purim, after the name of Pur. And so, because of the words of this letter, and of what they had seen in connection with this business, and what had come to them,

The Jews ordained, and took upon them, and upon their seed, and upon all such as joined themselves unto them, so as it should not fail, that they would keep these two days according to their writing, and according to their appointed time every year;

These days are remembered and celebrated by every generation, family, province, and city, so that these days of Purim will not lose their significance in Jewish life and their memory will not fade from their descendants.

So Queen Esther the daughter of Abihail and Mordecai the Jew wrote in full authority to confirm this second letter of Purim.

So Esther’s command confirmed these customs of Purim, which were then written into the record.

And the king Ahasuerus laid a tribute upon the land, and upon the isles of the sea.

All of his powerful and magnificent accomplishments and the detailed account of Mordecai’s great rank to which the king had honored him, have they not been written in the Historical Records of the Kings of Media and Persia?

His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east.

And his sons used to go and hold a feast {at each other's house} on his day, and they would send, and they would invite their three sisters to eat and to drink with them.

And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually.

Now it happened on the day when God's sons came to present themselves before Yahweh, that Satan also came among them.

So Yahweh said to Satan, "From where have you come?" Then Satan answered Yahweh and said, "From roaming on the earth and from walking about in it."

So Yahweh said to Satan, "Have you {considered} my servant Job? Indeed, there is no one like him on the earth--a blameless man and upright and God-fearing and turning away from evil."

And the adversary will answer Yehovah and say, Did Job fear God gratuitously?