Esther 9

The twelfth month is the month called Adar. On the thirteenth day of that month, the king's command and his written order were to be carried out. That was the day the enemies of the Jews had hoped to overpower them. But it turned out the opposite way: the Jews overpowered the people who hated them.

1Now in the twelfth month, that is, the month Adar, on the thirteenth day of the same, when the king’s commandment and his decree drew near to be put in execution, in the day that the enemies of the Jews hoped to have power over them, (though it was turned to the contrary, that the Jews had rule over them that hated them;)

NoteAdar is the twelfth and last month of the Hebrew year, falling in late February and March. Two royal orders are in play, both issued earlier in the book: Haman's decree fixing this day for the destruction of the Jews, and a second decree, issued after Haman's fall, allowing the Jews to arm and defend themselves. Persian law treated a sealed royal edict as irrevocable, so the first order could not simply be canceled: it had to be countered by a second.

2In every province of King Ahasuerus, the Jews came together in their cities to attack anyone who tried to harm them. No one could stand against them, because all the peoples were now afraid of them.

2The Jews gathered themselves together in their cities throughout all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus, to lay hand on such as sought their hurt: and no man could withstand them; for the fear of them fell upon all people.

3All the officials of the provinces, the regional governors, the local governors, and the king's administrators helped the Jews, because they were afraid of Mordecai.

3And all the rulers of the provinces, and the lieutenants, and the deputies, and officers of the king, helped the Jews; because the fear of Mordecai fell upon them.

NoteThis is the Persian chain of command from the top down: the provincial officials, the satraps who governed the large territorial units, the lesser governors under them, and the royal administrators who handled taxes, records and correspondence.

4Mordecai now held great power in the king's household, and reports about him spread through all the provinces, because he kept growing more and more powerful.

4For Mordecai was great in the king’s house, and his fame went out throughout all the provinces: for this man Mordecai waxed greater and greater.

5So the Jews struck down all their enemies with the sword, killing and destroying them, and they did whatever they wanted to those who hated them.

5Thus the Jews smote all their enemies with the stroke of the sword, and slaughter, and destruction, and did what they would unto those that hated them.

6In the fortress city of Susa, the Jews killed and destroyed five hundred men.

6And in Shushan the palace the Jews slew and destroyed five hundred men.

NoteSusa was one of the Persian royal capitals. The 'fortress' or 'citadel' was the fortified upper city holding the palace, treasury and government buildings, distinct from the ordinary town spread out below it.

7They also killed Parshandatha, Dalphon, and Aspatha,

7And Parshandatha, and Dalphon, and Aspatha,

NoteThe ten names are Persian rather than Hebrew, and several are otherwise unknown. In Hebrew manuscripts and printed Bibles they are traditionally laid out in a single narrow column, one name to a line.

8and Poratha, Adalia, and Aridatha,

8And Poratha, and Adalia, and Aridatha,

9and Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai, and Vajezatha.

9And Parmashta, and Arisai, and Aridai, and Vajezatha,

10These ten were the sons of Haman son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews. The Jews killed them, but they took none of their property.

10The ten sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews, slew they; but on the spoil laid they not their hand.

NoteThe second decree had expressly permitted the Jews to seize the goods of those who attacked them. The narrator states three times (here and in verses 15 and 16) that they took nothing, marking a deliberate refusal of a right they had been granted.

11That same day, someone reported to the king the number of people killed in the fortress city of Susa.

11On that day the number of those that were slain in Shushan the palace was brought before the king.

12The king said to Queen Esther, "In the fortress city of Susa alone, the Jews have killed and destroyed five hundred men, plus Haman's ten sons. What must they have done in the rest of my provinces? Now, what do you ask for? It will be given to you. What else do you want? It will be done."

12And the king said unto Esther the queen, The Jews have slain and destroyed five hundred men in Shushan the palace, and the ten sons of Haman; what have they done in the rest of the king’s provinces? now what is thy petition? and it shall be granted thee: or what is thy request further? and it shall be done.

13Esther answered, "If it seems good to the king, let the Jews in Susa be allowed to do tomorrow what today's order allowed, and let the bodies of Haman's ten sons be hung up on the wooden pole."

13Then said Esther, If it please the king, let it be granted to the Jews which are in Shushan to do to morrow also according unto this day’s decree, and let Haman’s ten sons be hanged upon the gallows.

NoteThe Hebrew word means a stake, pole or tree, not a gallows for hanging by the neck. Persian practice was to fasten or impale the bodies of executed enemies on such poles for public display. Haman's sons were already dead (verse 10); what is asked for is the public exposure of their corpses.

14The king ordered that this be done. An order was issued in Susa, and they hung up the bodies of Haman's ten sons.

14And the king commanded it so to be done: and the decree was given at Shushan; and they hanged Haman’s ten sons.

15So the Jews in Susa came together again on the fourteenth day of the month of Adar and killed three hundred men there, but they took none of their property.

15For the Jews that were in Shushan gathered themselves together on the fourteenth day also of the month Adar, and slew three hundred men at Shushan; but on the prey they laid not their hand.

16Meanwhile the rest of the Jews, the ones in the king's provinces, also came together to defend their lives. They got relief from their enemies and killed seventy-five thousand of the people who hated them, but they took none of their property.

16But the other Jews that were in the king’s provinces gathered themselves together, and stood for their lives, and had rest from their enemies, and slew of their foes seventy and five thousand, but they laid not their hands on the prey,

NoteThe Hebrew text reads seventy-five thousand; the ancient Greek translation reads fifteen thousand. Large round figures of this kind often differ between manuscript traditions.

17That happened on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar. On the fourteenth day they rested and made it a day of feasting and joy.

17On the thirteenth day of the month Adar; and on the fourteenth day of the same rested they, and made it a day of feasting and gladness.

18But the Jews in Susa had come together on the thirteenth day and again on the fourteenth. So they rested on the fifteenth day and made that a day of feasting and joy.

18But the Jews that were at Shushan assembled together on the thirteenth day thereof, and on the fourteenth thereof; and on the fifteenth day of the same they rested, and made it a day of feasting and gladness.

19That is why the Jews out in the countryside, who live in towns without walls, keep the fourteenth day of the month of Adar as a day of joy and feasting, a holiday when they send food to one another.

19Therefore the Jews of the villages, that dwelt in the unwalled towns, made the fourteenth day of the month Adar a day of gladness and feasting, and a good day, and of sending portions one to another.

NoteAncient settlements were either walled or unwalled, and that difference decided the date. Country people had fought on the thirteenth and rested on the fourteenth, while the fortified capital fought two days and rested on the fifteenth. The split survives in Jewish practice, where cities walled in antiquity, Jerusalem above all, keep Purim a day later than everywhere else. 'Sending portions' means sending shares of the festival food to neighbors.

20Mordecai wrote down these events and sent letters to all the Jews in every province of King Ahasuerus, both near and far.

20And Mordecai wrote these things, and sent letters unto all the Jews that were in all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus, both nigh and far,

NoteSending out a letter to establish a fixed annual observance was a recognized official form. The book presents Purim as founded by written authority in the Persian period rather than by ancient law: it appears nowhere in the laws of Moses.

21The letters told them to make it a fixed practice to keep the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month of Adar every year.

21To stablish this among them, that they should keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and the fifteenth day of the same, yearly,

22These were the days when the Jews got relief from their enemies, and this was the month when their sorrow turned into joy and their mourning turned into a holiday. They were to make these days days of feasting and joy, sending food to one another and gifts to the poor.

22As the days wherein the Jews rested from their enemies, and the month which was turned unto them from sorrow to joy, and from mourning into a good day: that they should make them days of feasting and joy, and of sending portions one to another, and gifts to the poor.

NoteTwo customs are being fixed here, and both are still kept: sending prepared food to friends and neighbors, and giving money or goods to the poor.

23So the Jews agreed to keep doing what they had already begun, just as Mordecai had written to them.

23And the Jews undertook to do as they had begun, and as Mordecai had written unto them;

24They did this because Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had made a plan against the Jews to destroy them, and had cast Pur, which means the lot, in order to crush them and wipe them out.

24Because Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had devised against the Jews to destroy them, and had cast Pur, that is, the lot, to consume them, and to destroy them;

NoteAgag was the king of the Amalekites, the people who attacked Israel after the exodus and whom Saul was ordered to destroy (1 Samuel 15). Calling Haman 'the Agagite' places him in an old hostility, especially since Mordecai was introduced earlier as a descendant of Kish of the tribe of Benjamin, Saul's own family line. 'Pur' is not a Hebrew word; it is borrowed from Akkadian puru, a lot or die, a small marked object thrown to let chance settle a decision. Haman used it to pick the date for the killing, and the text has to explain the word because its readers would not have known it.

25But when Esther came in front of the king, he gave written orders that Haman's evil plan against the Jews should fall back on Haman's own head, and that he and his sons should be hung up on the wooden pole.

25But when Esther came before the king, he commanded by letters that his wicked device, which he devised against the Jews, should return upon his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows.

NoteThe Hebrew here says only 'when she/it came before the king', without naming the subject, so it can be read either as Esther coming before the king or as the matter coming before him. The verse also compresses events told separately: Haman was executed back in chapter 7, and his sons' bodies were displayed only in verse 14.

26That is why these days are called Purim, from the word Pur. So, because of everything written in this letter, and because of what they had seen and what had happened to them,

26Wherefore they called these days Purim after the name of Pur. Therefore for all the words of this letter, and of that which they had seen concerning this matter, and which had come unto them,

NotePurim is simply the Hebrew plural of pur: 'lots'. The festival is named for the lot Haman cast to choose the day.

27the Jews made it a binding rule for themselves, for their descendants, and for everyone who joined them, that without fail they would keep these two days every year, as written and at the set time.

27The Jews ordained, and took upon them, and upon their seed, and upon all such as joined themselves unto them, so as it should not fail, that they would keep these two days according to their writing, and according to their appointed time every year;

Note'Everyone who joined them' means outsiders who attached themselves to the Jewish community; chapter 8 describes people in the provinces declaring themselves Jews after Mordecai's rise.

28These days were to be remembered and kept by every generation, every family, every province, and every city, so that these days of Purim would never stop being kept among the Jews, and the memory of them would never die out among their descendants.

28And that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, every family, every province, and every city; and that these days of Purim should not fail from among the Jews, nor the memorial of them perish from their seed.

29Then Queen Esther, the daughter of Abihail, together with Mordecai the Jew, wrote with full authority to confirm this second letter about Purim.

29Then Esther the queen, the daughter of Abihail, and Mordecai the Jew, wrote with all authority, to confirm this second letter of Purim.

NoteAbihail was Esther's father, named earlier at 2:15; identifying a person by parentage was standard in formal documents. What exactly distinguishes this 'second letter' from Mordecai's letter in verse 20 is disputed, and the Hebrew of these closing verses is unusually difficult.

30Mordecai sent the letters to all the Jews in the 127 provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, with words of peace and truth.

30And he sent the letters unto all the Jews, to the hundred twenty and seven provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, with words of peace and truth,

NoteThe 127 provinces are the administrative districts described at the opening of the book as stretching from India to Cush (Nubia). They are smaller units than the twenty or so satrapies known from Persian records.

31The letters confirmed these days of Purim at their set times, just as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther had directed, and just as the Jews had decided for themselves and their descendants about the times of fasting and mourning.

31To confirm these days of Purim in their times appointed, according as Mordecai the Jew and Esther the queen had enjoined them, and as they had decreed for themselves and for their seed, the matters of the fastings and their cry.

NoteAlongside the feasting, the observance preserved a memory of fasting and lamentation, in the story, the fast Esther called for in chapter 4. Later Jewish practice keeps a fast on the day before Purim.

32Esther's order settled these rules about Purim, and it was written down in the official record.

32And the decree of Esther confirmed these matters of Purim; and it was written in the book.

NoteThe book or record is not identified. It may mean the Persian royal annals mentioned earlier in the story, a separate written record of the festival's rules, or the book of Esther itself.