In the twelfth year of the reign of King Ahasuerus, in the first month (the month Nisan), the (that is, the lot) was cast in Haman's presence to determine the best day and month to carry out his plot. The lot indicated the twelfth month, the month Adar.

Letters were sent by couriers to all of the king's provinces to annihilate, to kill, and to destroy all the Jewish people, both young and old, women and children, and to confiscate their goods on a single day the thirteenth day of the twelfth month of Adar.

The king said, "Who is in the courtyard?" Now Haman had just entered the outer courtyard of the palace to speak to the king about having Mordecai hanged on the pole he had set up.

Throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, the one day for the Jewish people to do this was the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar.

On the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, when the king's order and edict was about to be carried out, on the day when the enemies of the Jewish people expected to prevail over them, things were turned around so that the Jewish people themselves prevailed over those who hated them.

The Jewish people in Susa assembled again on that day, the fourteenth of Adar, and they killed 300 people in Susa, but they did not lay their hands on the spoils.

They did this on the thirteenth day of Adar and rested on the fourteenth day, making it a day of feasting and joy.

Therefore the Jewish people in the rural areas who live in unwalled towns make the fourteenth day of the month Adar a holiday for joy and feasting, and people send presents to one another.

establishing that they should celebrate the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month Adar every year,