All of this happened on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar. They then rested on the fourteenth day and made it a day for banqueting and happiness. But the Jews who were in Susa assembled on the thirteenth and fourteenth days, and rested on the fifteenth, making it a day for banqueting and happiness. This is why the Jews who are in the rural country -- those who live in rural cities -- set aside the fourteenth day of the month of Adar as a holiday for happiness, banqueting, holiday, and sending gifts to one another.

as the time when the Jews gave themselves rest from their enemies -- the month when their trouble was turned to happiness and their mourning to a holiday. These were to be days of banqueting, happiness, sending gifts to one another, and providing for the poor. Verse ConceptsOvercoming EnemiesPeople Providing FoodRejoicing In God's Works