Esther:9

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* Now in the twelfth sh @nayim # month , that is , the month Adar , on the thirteenth shalowsh # day of the same , when the kings 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 ;) * The 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 . * 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 Mordecai fell upon them . * For Mordecai was great in the kings house , and his fame went out throughout all the provinces : for this man Mordecai waxed greater and greater . * 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 . * And in Shushan the palace the Jews slew and destroyed five hundred men . * And Parshandatha , and Dalphon , and Aspatha , * And Poratha , and Adalia , and Aridatha , * And Parmashta , and Arisai , and Aridai , and Vajezatha , * The ten sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha , the enemy of the Jews , slew they ; but on the spoil laid they not their hand . * On that day the number of e that were slain in Shushan the palace was brought before the king . * 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 kings provinces ? now what is thy petition sh @#elah #? and it shall be granted thee : or what is thy request further ? and it shall be done . * Then 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 days decree , and let Hamans ten sons be hanged upon the gallows . * And the king commanded it so to be done : and the decree was given at Shushan ; and they hanged Hamans ten sons . * For the Jews that were in Shushan gathered themselves together on the fourteenth #H6240day also of the month Adar , and slew three hundred men at Shushan ; but on the prey they laid not their hand . * But the other Jews that were in the kings 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 , * On the thirteenth shalowsh # day of the month Adar ; and on the fourteenth #H6240day of the same rested they , and made it a day of feasting and gladness . * But the Jews that were at Shushan assembled together on the thirteenth shalowsh # day thereof , and on the fourteenth #H6240thereof ; and on the fifteenth chamesh # day of the same they rested , and made it a day of feasting and gladness . * Therefore the Jews of the villages , that dwelt in the unwalled towns , made the fourteenth #H6240day of the month Adar a day of gladness and feasting , and a good day , and of sending portions one to another . * And 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 , * To stablish this among them , that they should keep the fourteenth #H6240day of the month Adar , and the fifteenth chamesh # day of the same , yearly shaneh #, * 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 . * And the Jews undertook to do as they had begun , and as Mordecai had written unto them ; * Because 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 ; * 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 ro #sh #, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows . * 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 , * 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 shaneh #; * 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 . * Then Esther the queen , the daughter of Abihail , and Mordecai the Jew , wrote with all authority , to confirm this second letter of Purim . * And 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 , * To 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 za #aq #. * And the decree of Esther confirmed these matters of Purim ; and it was written in the book .

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