Esther 9:20-32

The Feast of Purim Inaugurated

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

21 obliging them to keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar and also the fifteenth day of the same, year by year,

22 as the days on which the Jews got relief from their enemies, and as the month that had been turned for them from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into ¹a holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and gladness, days for sending gifts of food to one another and gifts to the poor.

23 So the Jews accepted what they had started to do, and what Mordecai had written to them.

24 For Haman the Agagite, the son of Hammedatha, ²the enemy of all the Jews, ³had plotted against the Jews to destroy them, and ⁴had cast Pur (that is, cast lots), to crush and to destroy them.

25 But when it came before the king, he gave orders in writing ⁵that his evil plan that he had devised against the Jews ⁶should return on his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows.^[a]

26 Therefore they called these days Purim, after the term ⁷Pur. Therefore, because of all that was written in ⁸this letter, and of what they had faced in this matter, and of what had happened to them,

27 the Jews firmly obligated themselves and their offspring and ⁹all who joined them, that without fail they would keep ¹⁰these two days according to what was written and at the time appointed every year,

28 that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, in every clan, province, and city, and that these days of Purim should never fall into disuse among the Jews, nor should the commemoration of these days cease among their descendants.

29 Then Queen Esther, ¹¹the daughter of Abihail, and Mordecai the Jew gave full written authority, confirming ¹²this second letter about Purim.

30 Letters were sent to all the Jews, ¹³to the 127 provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, in words of peace and truth,

31 that these days of Purim should be observed at their appointed seasons, as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther obligated them, and as they had obligated themselves and their offspring, with regard to ¹⁴their fasts and their lamenting.

32 The command of Queen Esther confirmed these practices of ¹⁵Purim, and it was recorded in writing.

Esther 9:20-32 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.

Cross References

• 1. [See ver. 19 above]
• 2. See Esther 3:10
• 3. Esther 3:6
• 4. Esther 3:7
• 5. Esther 7:9, 10; Esther 8:3, 7
• 6. [Psalms 7:16]
• 7. [See ver. 24 above]
• 8. ver. 20
• 9. [Isaiah 56:3, 6; Zechariah 2:11]
• 10. ver. 21
• 11. Esther 2:15
• 12. ver. 20; Esther 8:10
• 13. Esther 1:1; Esther 8:9
• 14. Esther 4:3
• 15. ver. 26

Footnotes

• [a]. Or suspended on a stake