22
These were the days on which the Jews had rid themselves of their enemies. The Jews were to observe the whole month as a holiday, for this was a month that had been turned from a time of grief and despair into a time of joy and happiness. They were told to observe these days with feasts and parties, giving gifts of food to friends and to the poor.
23
So the Jews accepted all that Mordecai had written.
24
Mordecai had recorded how Haman son of Hammedatha, a Macedonian, had fought against the Jewish people, how he had made a decree and cast lots to determine the day he would destroy them,
25
and how he had gone to the king to request that Mordecai be hanged. But Haman suffered the same fate he had planned for the Jews - he and his sons were hanged from the gallows.
26
Because of Mordecai's letter, because of all they had suffered, and because of all that had happened to them, the Jews accepted Mordecai's suggestion and made it a rule for themselves, their descendants, and anyone that might become a Jew, that these days should be properly observed as a memorial, generation after generation, in every city, province, and country. The Jews were to remember and observe these days of Purim for all time to come and never neglect them. (The holidays are called Purim because "purim" in their language is the word for "lots.")