Thematic Bible: Feast of Purim


Thematic Bible



In the first month, that is, the month Nisan, in the twelfth year of king Ahasuerus, they cast Pur, that is, the lot, before Haman for each day and for each month, to the twelfth month, that is, the month Adar. And Haman said to king Ahasuerus, There is a people scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of thy kingdom; and their laws are diverse from those of every people, and they keep not the king's laws; and it is not for the king's profit to suffer them. If it please the king, let it be written that they may be destroyed, and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those that have charge of the affairs, to bring it into the king's treasuries. read more.
And the king took his ring from his hand, and gave it to Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the Jews' enemy. And the king said to Haman, The silver is given to thee, the people also, to do with them as seems good to thee. Then were the king's scribes called, in the first month, on the thirteenth day of the month, and there was written according to all that Haman commanded unto the king's satraps, and to the governors over every province, and to the princes of every people; to every province according to the writing thereof, and to every people according to their language: in the name of king Ahasuerus was it written, and sealed with the king's ring. And the letters were sent by couriers 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, upon the thirteenth of the twelfth month, that is, the month Adar, and to take the spoil of them for a prey. That the decree might be given in every province, a copy of the writing was published to all peoples, that they should be ready against that day. The couriers went out, being hastened by the king's commandment, and the decree was given in Shushan the fortress. And the king and Haman sat down to drink; but the city of Shushan was in consternation.

For Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the oppressor of all the Jews, had devised against the Jews to destroy them, and had cast Pur, that is, the lot, to consume them and to destroy them; and when Esther came before the king, he commanded by letters that his wicked device, which he had devised against the Jews, should return upon his own head; and they hanged him and his sons on the gallows. Therefore they called these days Purim after the name of Pur. Therefore, according to all the words of this letter, and for what they had seen concerning this matter and what had happened to them,


on the thirteenth day of the month Adar; and on the fourteenth of the same they rested, and made it a day of feasting and joy. But the Jews that were at Shushan gathered themselves together on the thirteenth day thereof, and on the fourteenth thereof; and on the fifteenth of the same they rested, and made it a day of feasting and joy. Therefore the Jews of the villages that dwell in the country towns make the fourteenth of the month Adar a day of joy and feasting, and a good day, and on which they send portions one to another.

as the days on which the Jews rested from their enemies, and the month that was turned to 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.


the Jews ordained and took upon them, and upon their seed, and upon all such as joined themselves to them, so that it should not fail, that they would observe these two days according to their writing and according to their fixed time, every year; and that these days should be remembered and observed throughout every generation, in every family, every province, and every city, and that these days of Purim should not fail from among the Jews, nor the memorial of them cease from among their seed.


And queen Esther the daughter of Abihail, and Mordecai the Jew, wrote with all authority to confirm this second letter of Purim. And he sent letters to all the Jews, to the hundred and twenty-seven provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, words of peace and truth, to confirm these days of Purim in their fixed times, according as Mordecai the Jew and queen Esther had enjoined them, and as they had decreed for themselves and for their seed, as to the matters of the fastings and their cry. read more.
And the decree of Esther confirmed these matters of Purim; and it was written in the book.


on the thirteenth day of the month Adar; and on the fourteenth of the same they rested, and made it a day of feasting and joy.


And Mordecai wrote these things, and sent letters to all the Jews near and far that were in all the provinces of king Ahasuerus,


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


on the thirteenth day of the month Adar; and on the fourteenth of the same they rested, and made it a day of feasting and joy.

as the days on which the Jews rested from their enemies, and the month that was turned to 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.

Therefore they called these days Purim after the name of Pur. Therefore, according to all the words of this letter, and for what they had seen concerning this matter and what had happened to them,