Esther 9:17-27

17 This was done throughout the provinces on March 7, and on March 8 they rested, celebrating their victory with a day of feasting and gladness.
18 (The Jews at Susa killed their enemies on March 7 and again on March 8, then rested on March 9, making that their day of feasting and gladness.)
19 So to this day, rural Jews living in remote villages celebrate an annual festival and holiday on the appointed day in late winter, when they rejoice and send gifts of food to each other.
20 Mordecai recorded these events and sent letters to the Jews near and far, throughout all the provinces of King Xerxes,
21 calling on them to celebrate an annual festival on these two days.
22 He told them to celebrate these days with feasting and gladness and by giving gifts of food to each other and presents to the poor. This would commemorate a time when the Jews gained relief from their enemies, when their sorrow was turned into gladness and their mourning into joy.
23 So the Jews accepted Mordecai’s proposal and adopted this annual custom.
24 Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews, had plotted to crush and destroy them on the date determined by casting lots (the lots were called ).
25 But when Esther came before the king, he issued a decree causing Haman’s evil plot to backfire, and Haman and his sons were impaled on a sharpened pole.
26 That is why this celebration is called Purim, because it is the ancient word for casting lots. So because of Mordecai’s letter and because of what they had experienced,
27 the Jews throughout the realm agreed to inaugurate this tradition and to pass it on to their descendants and to all who became Jews. They declared they would never fail to celebrate these two prescribed days at the appointed time each year.

Footnotes 4

  • [a]. Hebrew on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar, and on the fourteenth day they rested. These days were March 7 and 8, 473 ; also see note on 2:16 .
  • [b]. Hebrew killed their enemies on the thirteenth day and the fourteenth day, and then rested on the fifteenth day, of the Hebrew month of Adar.
  • [c]. Hebrew on the fourteenth day of the month of Adar. This day of the ancient Hebrew lunar calendar occurs in February or March.
  • [d]. Hebrew on the fourteenth and fifteenth days of Adar, of the ancient Hebrew lunar calendar.
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.