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But the Jews who were in Susa gathered on the thirteenth day and on the fourteenth ,
and rested on the fifteenth day ,
making that a day of feasting and gladness .
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Therefore the Jews of the villages ,
who live in the open towns ,
hold the fourteenth day of the month of Adar as a day for gladness and feasting and holiday-making ,
and a day on which they send choice portions to one another .
*
And Mor '
decai recorded these things ,
and sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of King Ahasu-e '
rus ,
both near and far ,
*
enjoining them that they should keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar and also the fifteenth day of the same ,
year by year ,
*
as the days on which the Jews got relief from their enemies ,
and as the month that had been turned for them from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a holiday ;
that they should make them days of feasting and gladness ,
days for sending choice portions to one another and gifts to the poor .
*
So the Jews undertook to do as they had begun ,
and as Mor '
decai had written to them .
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For Haman the Ag '
agite ,
the son of Hammeda '
tha ,
the enemy of all the Jews ,
had plotted against the Jews to destroy them ,
and had cast Pur ,
that is the lot ,
to crush and destroy them ;
*
but when Esther came before the king ,
he gave orders in writing that his wicked plot which he had devised against the Jews should come upon his own head ,
and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows .
*
Therefore they called these days Purim ,
after the term Pur .
And therefore ,
because of all that was written in this letter ,
and of what they had faced in this matter ,
and of what had befallen them ,
*
the Jews ordained and took it upon themselves and their descendants and all who joined them ,
that without fail they would keep these two days according to what was written and at the time appointed every year ,
*
that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation ,
in every family ,
province ,
and city ,
and that these days of Purim should never fall into disuse among the Jews ,
nor should the commemoration of these days cease among their descendants .
*
Then Queen Esther ,
the daughter of Ab '
ihail ,
and Mor '
decai the Jew gave full written authority ,
confirming this second letter about Purim .
*
Letters were sent to all the Jews ,
to the hundred and twenty-seven provinces of the kingdom of Ahasu-e '
rus ,
in words of peace and truth ,
*
that these days of Purim should be observed at their appointed seasons ,
as Mor '
decai the Jew and Queen Esther enjoined upon the Jews ,
and as they had laid down for themselves and for their descendants ,
with regard to their fasts and their lamenting .
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The command of Queen Esther fixed these practices of Purim ,
and it was recorded in writing .