Esther 9
The Jews Destroy Their
Enemies |
1 |
Now 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,)
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2 |
the Jews gathered themselves together in
their cities throughout all the provinces of the king Ahasue'rus, to
lay hand on such as sought their hurt: and no man could withstand
them; for the fear of them fell upon all people.
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3 |
And all the rulers of the provinces, and
the lieutenants, and the deputies, and officers of the king, helped
the Jews; because the fear of Mor'decai fell upon them.
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4 |
For Mor'decai was great in the
king's house, and his fame went out throughout all the provinces:
for this man Mor'decai waxed greater and greater.
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5 |
Thus 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.
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6 |
And in Shushan the palace the Jews slew
and destroyed five hundred men.
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7 |
And Parshanda'tha, and Dalphon, and
Aspa'tha,
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8 |
and Pora'tha, and Adali'a, and
Arida'tha,
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9 |
and Parmash'ta, and Ar'isai, and Ar'idai,
and Vajeza'tha,
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10 |
the ten sons of Haman the son of
Hammeda'tha, the enemy of the Jews, slew they; but on the spoil laid
they not their hand.
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11 |
On that day the number of those that
were slain in Shushan the palace was brought before the
king.
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12 |
And 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.
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13 |
Then said Esther, If it please the king,
let it be granted to the Jews which are in Shushan to do
tomorrow also according unto this day's decree, and let Haman's ten
sons be hanged upon the gallows.
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14 |
And the king commanded it so to be done:
and the decree was given at Shushan; and they hanged Haman's ten
sons.
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15 |
For 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.
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The Feast of
Purim |
16 |
But 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,
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17 |
on 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.
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18 |
But 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.
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19 |
Therefore 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.
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20 |
And Mor'decai wrote these things, and
sent letters unto all the Jews that were in all the provinces
of the king Ahasue'rus, both nigh and far,
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21 |
to establish this among them, that
they should keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and the
fifteenth day of the same, yearly,
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22 |
as 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.
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23 |
And the Jews undertook to do as they
had begun, and as Mor'decai had written unto them;
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24 |
because Haman the son of Hammeda'tha, the
A'gagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had devised against the Jews to
destroy them, and had cast Pur, Esth. 3.7 that is, the lot, to consume them, and to destroy
them;
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25 |
but 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.
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26 |
Wherefore 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,
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27 |
the 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;
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28 |
and 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.
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29 |
Then Esther the queen, the daughter of
Ab'ihail, and Mor'decai the Jew, wrote with all authority, to
confirm this second letter of Purim.
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30 |
And he sent the letters unto all the
Jews, to the hundred twenty and seven provinces of the kingdom of
Ahasue'rus, with words of peace and truth,
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31 |
to confirm these days of Purim in their
times appointed, according as Mor'decai 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.
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32 |
And the decree of Esther confirmed these
matters of Purim; and it was written in the
book.
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