Book 34 : KETUVIM - MEGILOT - ESTHER - Chapter 009
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Now in the twelfth month, which 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
rule over them; whereas it was turned to the contrary, that the Jews had rule
over them that hated them
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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 was
fallen upon all the peoples
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And all the princes of the provinces, and the satraps, and
the governors, and they that did the king's business, helped the Jews; because
the fear of Mordecai was fallen upon them
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For Mordecai was great in the king's house, and his fame
went forth throughout all the provinces; for the man Mordecai waxed greater and
greater
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And the Jews smote all their enemies with the stroke of the
sword, and with slaughter and destruction, and did what they would unto them
that hated them
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And in Shushan the castle the Jews slew and destroyed five
hundred men
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And Parshandatha, and Dalphon, and Aspatha
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and Poratha, and Adalia, and Aridatha
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and Parmashta, and Arisai, and Aridai, and Vaizatha
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the ten sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Jews'
enemy, slew they; but on the spoil they laid not their hand
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On that day the number of those that were slain in Shushan
the castle was brought before the king
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And the king said unto Esther the queen: 'The Jews have
slain and destroyed five hundred men in Shushan the castle, and the ten sons of
Haman; what then have they done in the rest of the king's provinces! Now
whatever thy petition, it shall be granted thee; and whatever thy request
further, it shall be done.
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Then said Esther: 'If it please the king, let it be
granted to the Jews that 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.
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And the king commanded it so to be done; and a decree was
given out in Shushan; and they hanged Haman's ten sons
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And the Jews that were in Shushan gathered themselves
together on the fourteenth day also of the month Adar, and slew three hundred
men in Shushan; but on the spoil they laid not their hand
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And 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 them that hated them seventy and five thousand--but on the
spoil they laid not their hand-
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on the thirteenth day of the month Adar, and on the
fourteenth day of the same they rested, and made it a day of feasting and
gladness
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But the Jews that were in 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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Therefore do the Jews of the villages, that dwell in the
unwalled towns, make 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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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
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to enjoin them that they should keep the fourteenth day of
the month Adar, and the fifteenth day of the same, yearly
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the days wherein the Jews had rest from their enemies, and
the month which was turned unto them from sorrow to gladness, and from mourning
into a good day; that they should make them days of feasting and gladness, and
of sending portions one to another, and gifts to the poor
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And the Jews took upon them to do as they had begun, and
as Mordecai had written unto them
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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 discomfit them, and to destroy them
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but when she 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 that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows
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Wherefore they called these days Purim, after the name of
pur. Therefore because of all the words of this letter, and of that which they
had seen concerning this matter, and that which had come unto them
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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 the writing thereof, and
according to the appointed time thereof, every year
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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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Then Esther the queen, the daughter of Abihail, and
Mordecai the Jew, wrote down all the acts of power, to confirm this second
letter of Purim
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And he sent letters unto all the Jews, to the hundred
twenty and seven provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, with words of peace and
truth
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to confirm these days of Purim in their appointed times,
according as Mordecai the Jew and Esther the queen had enjoined them, and as
they had ordained for themselves and for their seed, the matters of the fastings
and their cry
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And the commandment of Esther confirmed these matters of
Purim; and it was written in the book
Book 34 : KETUVIM - MEGILOT - ESTHER - Chapter 009
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