Esther 9:17-19

17 This was done on ¹the thirteenth * day of the month Adar, and ²on the fourteenth * day they rested and made it a day of feasting and rejoicing.

18 But the Jews who were in Susa ³assembled on the thirteenth * and ⁴the 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 ⁵the rural towns, make the fourteenth * day of the month Adar a ⁶holiday * for rejoicing and feasting and ⁷sending portions of food to one another.

Esther 9:17-19 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. Esther 9:1
• 2. Esther 9:21
• 3. Esther 8:11; Esther 9:2
• 4. Esther 9:21
• 5. Deuteronomy 3:5; Zechariah 2:4
• 6. Esther 9:22
• 7. Nehemiah 8:10

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit "in it"
• [b]. Lit "in it"
• [c]. Lit "in it"
• [d]. Lit "rejoicing and feasting and a good day and sending"