Esther 9:20–32

The Feast of Purim Instituted

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

²¹obliging 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 ¹rid themselves of their enemies, and it was a month which was ^aturned for them from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a ²holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and rejoicing and ^bsending portions of food to one another and gifts to the poor.

²³Thus the Jews undertook 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 schemed against the Jews to destroy them and ^ahad cast Pur, that is the lot, to disturb them and destroy them.

²⁵But ^awhen it came ¹to the king’s attention, he commanded by letter ^bthat his wicked scheme which he had ²devised against the Jews, ^cshould return on his own head and that he and his sons should be hanged on the ³gallows.

²⁶Therefore they called these days Purim after the name of Pur. ¹And ^abecause of the instructions in this letter, both what they had seen in this regard and what had happened to them,

²⁷the Jews established and ¹made a custom for themselves and for their ²descendants and for ^aall those who allied themselves with them, so that ³they would not fail ^bto celebrate these two days according to their ⁴regulation and according to their appointed time annually.

²⁸So these days were to be remembered and celebrated throughout every generation, every family, every province and every city; and these days of Purim were not to ¹fail from among the Jews, or their memory ²fade from their ³descendants.

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

³⁰He 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 ¹descendants with ²instructions ^afor their times of fasting and their lamentations.

³²The command of Esther established these ¹customs for ^aPurim, and it was written in the book.