Esther 9:17

17 This was on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar. On the fourteenth they rested and made it a day of feasting and celebration.

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.

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FOOTNOTES:

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

Esther 9:17 In-Context

15 The Jews in Susa also assembled on the fourteenth day of the month of Adar and killed 300 men in Susa, but they did not seize any of their possessions.

16 The other Jews who were in the king's provinces had also assembled to defend and free themselves from their enemies. They killed 75,000 of those who hated them, but they did not seize any of their possessions.

17 This was on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar. On the fourteenth they rested and made it a day of feasting and celebration.

18 But the Jews in Susa had assembled on the thirteenth and fourteenth. They rested on the fifteenth and made it a day of feasting and celebration.

19 That is why the Jews who live in the villages and in the unwalled towns make the fourteenth day of the month of Adar a holiday for feasting and celebration. They also send gifts of food to one another.