Esther 9:12-22

12 The king said to Queen Esther, "The Jews have killed and destroyed five hundred men and the ten sons of Haman at the citadel in Susa. What then have they done in the rest of the king's provinces! ¹Now what is your petition? It shall even be granted you. And what is your further request? It shall also be done."

13 Then said Esther, "If it pleases * the king, ²let tomorrow also be granted to the Jews who are in Susa to do according to the edict of today; and let Haman's ten sons be hanged on the gallows."

14 So the king commanded that it should be done so; and an edict was issued in Susa, and Haman's ten sons were hanged.

15 The Jews who were in Susa assembled also on the fourteenth * day of the month Adar and killed ³three hundred men in Susa, but ⁴they did not lay their hands on the plunder.

16 Now ⁵the rest of the Jews who were in the king's provinces ⁶assembled, to defend their lives and rid themselves of their enemies, and kill 75,000 * * of those who hated them; but they did not lay their hands on the plunder.

17 This was done on ⁷the thirteenth * day of the month Adar, and ⁸on the fourteenth * day they rested and made it a day of feasting and rejoicing.

18 But the Jews who were in Susa ⁹assembled on the thirteenth * and ¹⁰the fourteenth * of the same month, and they rested on the fifteenth * day and made it a day of feasting and rejoicing.

19 Therefore * the Jews of the rural areas, who live in ¹¹the rural towns, make the fourteenth * day of the month Adar a ¹²holiday * for rejoicing and feasting and ¹³sending portions of food to one another.

The Feast of Purim Instituted

20 Then Mordecai recorded these events, and he sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far,

21 obliging * them to celebrate the fourteenth * day of the month Adar, and the fifteenth * day of the same month, annually *,

22 because on those days the Jews rid themselves of their enemies, and it was a month which was ¹⁴turned for them from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a holiday *; that they should make them days of feasting and rejoicing and ¹⁵sending portions of food to one another and gifts to the poor.

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Esther 9:12-22 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO ESTHER 9

In this chapter we have an account of the Jews gathering together, on the day fixed for their destruction, to defend themselves, which they did in all the provinces, and smote their enemies; Es 9:1-5. In Shushan the palace they slew the ten sons of Haman and five hundred men on that day, Es 9:6-11 and at the request of the queen they were allowed the next day to hang up his sons, when they slew three hundred men more, Es 9:12-15, in the provinces they slew 75,000 and those in one day only, and the following days they kept as a festival, but they in Shushan kept the two days following, Es 9:16-19, and which two days were established by Esther and Mordecai as festivals, to be observed as such in future ages, by the name of the days of Purim, Es 9:20-32.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 15

1. Esther 5:6; Esther 7:2
2. Esther 8:11; Esther 9:15
3. Esther 9:12
4. Esther 9:10
5. Esther 9:2
6. Leviticus 26:7, 8; Esther 8:11
7. Esther 9:1
8. Esther 9:21
9. Esther 8:11; Esther 9:2
10. Esther 9:21
11. Deuteronomy 3:5; Zechariah 2:4
12. Esther 9:22
13. Nehemiah 8:10
14. Psalms 30:11
15. Nehemiah 8:12

Footnotes 8

[a]. Lit "have rest from"
[b]. Lit "in it"
[c]. Lit "in it"
[d]. Lit "in it"
[e]. Lit "rejoicing and feasting and a good day and sending"
[f]. Lit "in it"
[g]. Lit "had rest from"
[h]. Lit "good day"