Thematic Bible: Feast of Purim


Thematic Bible



In the first month, that [is], the month of Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Ahasurus, he cast pur--that [is], the lot--before the presence of Haman {for the day and for the month}, until the twelfth month, that [is], the month of Adar. And Haman said to King Ahasuerus, "There is a certain people scattered and separated among the peoples in all of the provinces of your kingdom; their laws [are] different from every [other] people, and they do not {observe} the laws of the king; it is not appropriate for the king to tolerate them. If it pleases the king, let a [decree] be issued to destroy them, and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver to those who do the job, to bring to the treasury of the king." read more.
So the king removed his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews. And the king said to Haman, "The money [is] given to you and to the people to do with it {as you see fit}. And the king's secretaries were called in the first month on the thirteenth day, and [a decree] was issued, according to all that Haman commanded, to the satraps of the king and to the governors who [were] over all the provinces, and to [the] officials of all the people, to each province according to [its own] script and to all people according to their own language; [it was] written in the name of King Ahasuerus and [was] sealed with the king's ring. Letters [were] sent by couriers to all the provinces of the king to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate all the Jews, {both young and old}, women and children, on one day, the thirteenth day of the month, that [is] Adar, and to plunder their goods. A copy of the edict [was] presented [as] law in every province making [it] known to all the people to be ready for that day. The couriers went out quickly by order of the king, and the law was issued in the citadel of Susa. The king and Haman sat down to drink; and the city of Susa was bewildered.

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. 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. 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,


[This was] on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar. [They] rested on the fourteenth [day] and made it a day of feasting and joy. But the Jews who [were] in Susa gathered on the thirteenth and on the fourteenth day, and rested on the fifteenth day. And they made it a day of feasting and joy. Therefore the Jews in the rural [areas], living in the rural towns, made the fourteenth month of Adar a day of joy and feasting, a festive day of giving gifts to each other.

as the day that the Jews {found relief} from their enemies, and the month which changed for them from sorrow to joy, and from a mourning ceremony to a {festive day}; to make them days of feasting and joy, and giving gifts to each other and to the poor.


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. 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.


So Queen Esther the daughter of Abihail and Mordecai the Jew wrote in full authority to confirm this second letter of Purim. He sent letters of words of peace and truth to all the Jews, to the one hundred and twenty-seven provinces of Ahasuerus' kingdom, 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. read more.
And the command of Esther established these practices of Purim, and [it was] written on the scroll.


[This was] on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar. [They] rested on the fourteenth [day] and made it a day of feasting and joy.


Mordecai wrote down these things and he sent letters to all the Jews who [were] in all [of] the provinces of King Ahasuerus, [both] near and far,


to impose on them to keep the fourteenth day of the month of Adar, and the fifteenth [day], {every year},


[This was] on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar. [They] rested on the fourteenth [day] and made it a day of feasting and joy.

as the day that the Jews {found relief} from their enemies, and the month which changed for them from sorrow to joy, and from a mourning ceremony to a {festive day}; to make them days of feasting and joy, and giving gifts to each other and to the poor.

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,