Esther 9:20–32

The Feast of Purim Is Established

²⁰Then Mordecai wrote down these events, and he sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far,

²¹to establish among them to celebrate the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and the fifteenth day ¹of the same month, annually,

²²because on those days the Jews obtained rest for themselves from their enemies, and it was a month which was ^aturned around for them from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a ¹holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and gladness and ^bsending portions of food to one another and gifts to the poor.

²³Thus the Jews fully accepted what they had started to do and what Mordecai had written to them.

²⁴For Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the adversary of all the Jews, had devised against the Jews to cause them to perish and ^ahad cast Pur, that is the lot, to throw them into confusion and cause them to perish.

²⁵But ^awhen it came before the king, he said by letter ^bthat his evil scheme, which he had ¹devised against the Jews, ^cshould return on his own head and that he and his sons should be hanged on the ²gallows.

²⁶Therefore they called these days Purim after the name of Pur. Therefore, ^abecause of the words in this letter, both what they had seen in this regard and what had reached them,

²⁷the Jews established and accepted a custom for themselves and for their seed and for ^aall those who joined themselves to them, so that ^1bcelebrating these two days according to what was written down and according to their fixed time from year to year would not pass away.

²⁸So these days were to be remembered and celebrated throughout every generation, every family, every province, and every city; thus these days of Purim were not to pass away from among the Jews, nor their memory come to an end from their seed.

²⁹Then Queen Esther, ^adaughter of Abihail, with Mordecai the Jew, wrote with full authority to establish ^bthis second letter about Purim.

³⁰And he sent letters to all the Jews, ^ato the 127 provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, namely, words of peace and truth,

³¹to establish these days of Purim at their appointed times, just as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther had established for them, and just as they had established for themselves and for their seed with words concerning ^atheir times of fasting and their crying out.

³²And the declaration of Esther established these words concerning ^aPurim, and it was written in the book.