Esther 9:24-32 - The Reason For The Festival Of Purim

²⁴ For Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews had plotted against the Jews to destroy them, and he had cast pur, that [is] the lot, to rout them out and destroy them. ²⁵ But when it came {to the attention of} the king, he {gave orders in writing} [that] his evil plot that he had devised against the Jews should return on his head, and they hung him and his sons on the gallows. ²⁶ Therefore they called these days Purim, because of the name Pur. Thus because of all the words of this letter, and of what they faced concerning this, and of what had happened to them, ²⁷ the Jews established and adopted [it] for themselves and for their offspring, and for all who joined them. They did not neglect {to observe} these two days every year as it was written and appointed to them. ²⁸ These days [are] to be remembered and [are] to be kept in every generation, and in family, province, and city; and these days of Purim are not [to be] neglected among the Jews, and their memory shall not come to an end among their offspring.

²⁹ So Queen Esther the daughter of Abihail and Mordecai the Jew wrote in full authority to confirm this second letter of Purim. ³⁰ He sent letters of words of peace and truth to all the Jews, to the one hundred and twenty-seven provinces of Ahasuerus' kingdom, ³¹ to establish these days of Purim at their appointed times, just as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther had imposed, and just as they had imposed on themselves and their offspring regulations of the fast and their lament. ³² And the command of Esther established these practices of Purim, and [it was] written on the scroll.