Esther 9:17

17 Dies autem tertiusdecimus mensis Adar primus apud omnes interfectionis fuit, et quartadecima die caedere desierunt. Quem constituerunt esse sollemnem, ut in eo omni tempore deinceps vacarent epulis, gaudio atque conviviis.

Esther 9:17 Meaning and Commentary

Esther 9:17

On the thirteenth day of the month Adar
This belongs to the preceding verse; and the meaning is, that on this day the Jews gathered together and slew so many thousand of their enemies as before related:

and on the fourteenth day of the same rested they, and made it a feast
of gladness:
rejoicing that they were delivered out of the hand of their enemies, who hoped and expected on that day to have made an utter end of them; according to the Jewish canons ^F12, mourning and fasting on this day were forbidden, but feasting and gladness were to be multiplied.

---

FOOTNOTES:

F12 Lebush, c. 697. Schulchan Aruch, par. 1. c. 697.

Esther 9:17 In-Context

15 Congregatis Iudaeis quartadecima die mensis Adar, interfecti sunt in Susan trecenti viri: nec eorum ab illis direpta substantia est.

16 Sed et per omnes provincias, quae ditioni regis subiacebant, pro animabus suis steterunt Iudaei, interfectis hostibus ac persecutoribus suis: in tantum ut septuagintaquinque millia occisorum implerentur, et nullus de substantiis eorum quidquam contingeret.

17 Dies autem tertiusdecimus mensis Adar primus apud omnes interfectionis fuit, et quartadecima die caedere desierunt. Quem constituerunt esse sollemnem, ut in eo omni tempore deinceps vacarent epulis, gaudio atque conviviis.

18 At hi, qui in urbe Susan caedem exercuerant, tertiodecimo et quartodecimo die eiusdem mensis in caede versati sunt: quintodecimo autem die percutere desierunt. Et idcirco eundem diem constituerunt sollemnem epularum atque laetitiae.

19 Hi vero Iudaei, qui in oppidis non muratis ac villis morabantur, quartumdecimum diem mensis Adar conviviorum et gaudii decreverunt, ita ut exultent in eo, et mittant sibi mutuo partes epularum et ciborum.