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But the Jews that were at Shushan gathered themselves together on the thirteenth [
day ]
thereof ,
and on the fourteenth thereof ;
and on the fifteenth of the same they rested ,
and made it a day of feasting and joy .
*
Therefore the Jews of the villages that dwell in the country towns make the fourteenth of the month Adar a day of joy and feasting ,
and a good day ,
and on which they send portions one to another .
*
And Mordecai wrote these things ,
and sent letters to all the Jews near and far that were in all the provinces of king Ahasuerus ,
*
to establish [
this ]
among them ,
that they should keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar ,
and the fifteenth day of the same ,
yearly ,
*
as the days on which the Jews rested from their enemies ,
and the month that was turned to 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 to them .
*
For Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite ,
the oppressor 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 ;
*
and when [
Esther ]
came before the king ,
he commanded by letters that his wicked device ,
which he had devised against the Jews ,
should return upon his own head ;
and they hanged him and his sons on the gallows .
*
Therefore they called these days Purim after the name of Pur .
Therefore ,
according to all the words of this letter ,
and for what they had seen concerning this matter and what had happened to them ,
*
the Jews ordained and took upon them ,
and upon their seed ,
and upon all such as joined themselves to them ,
so that it should not fail ,
that they would observe these two days according to their writing and according to their fixed time ,
every year ;
*
and that these days should be remembered and observed throughout every generation ,
in 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 cease from among their seed .
*
And queen Esther the daughter of Abihail ,
and Mordecai the Jew ,
wrote with all authority to confirm this second letter of Purim .
*
And he sent letters to all the Jews ,
to the hundred and twenty-seven provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus ,
words of peace and truth ,
*
to confirm these days of Purim in their fixed times ,
according as Mordecai the Jew and queen Esther had enjoined them ,
and as they had decreed for themselves and for their seed ,
as to the matters of the fastings and their cry .
*
And the decree of Esther confirmed these matters of Purim ;
and it was written in the book .