Esther 9:17

17 And they rested on the fourteenth of the same month, and kept it as a day of rest with joy and gladness.

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 And the Jews assembled in Susa on the fourteenth of Adar, and slew three hundred men, but plundered no property.

16 And the rest of the Jews who were in the kingdom assembled, and helped one another, and obtained rest from their enemies: for they destroyed fifteen thousand of them on the thirteenth of Adar, but took no spoil.

17 And they rested on the fourteenth of the same month, and kept it as a day of rest with joy and gladness.

18 And the Jews in the city Susa assembled also on the fourteenth and rested; and they kept also the fifteenth with joy and gladness.

19 On this account then the Jews dispersed in every foreign land keep the fourteenth of Adar a holy day with joy, sending portions each to his neighbour.