The Jews Destroy Their Enemies 1 UDB It was in the twelfth month, the month of Adar, on the thirteenth day, that the Jews' enemies had hoped to destroy them completely. They would have been following the king's decree. However, it all turned out differently, for the Jews defeated their enemies. BSB BSB: On the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar, the king’s command and edict were to be executed. On this day the enemies of the Jews had hoped to overpower them, but their plan was overturned and the Jews overpowered those who hated them.
2 UDB The Jews gathered together in their cities in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus to attack those who wanted to harm them. No one could fight against the Jews, because all the people in the areas were afraid of them. BSB BSB: In each of the provinces of King Xerxes, the Jews assembled in their cities to attack those who sought to harm them. No man could withstand them, because the fear of them had fallen upon all peoples.
3 UDB All the king's officials everywhere helped the Jews, because they had become afraid of Mordecai and the power that the king had given to him. BSB BSB: And all the officials of the provinces, the satraps, the governors, and the king’s administrators helped the Jews, because the fear of Mordecai had fallen upon them.
4 UDB Mordecai was now the king's most important official in the king's palace, and his fame was spreading throughout the provinces because he was becoming very powerful. BSB BSB: For Mordecai exercised great power in the palace, and his fame spread throughout the provinces as he became more and more powerful.
5 UDB So the Jews attacked their enemies and killed them. They defeated all those who hated them, and they were completely victorious. BSB BSB: The Jews put all their enemies to the sword, killing and destroying them, and they did as they pleased to those who hated them.
6 UDB Just in Susa alone, the fortified city, they killed five hundred men. BSB BSB: In the citadel of Susa, the Jews killed and destroyed five hundred men,
7 UDB They killed Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha, Poratha, Adalia, Aridatha, Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai, and Vaizatha, the ten grandsons of Hammedatha, the sons of Haman—the enemy of the Jews. The Jews killed them, but they did not take their possessions. BSB BSB: including Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha,
Haman’s Sons Hanged 11 UDB At the end of that day someone reported to the king the number of people whom the Jews killed in Susa, the fortified city. BSB BSB: On that day the number of those killed in the citadel of Susa was reported to the king,
12 UDB Then the king told Queen Esther, "The Jews have killed five hundred people right here in Susa, including Haman's ten sons! What must they have done in the rest of my provinces? Now what else do you ask me to do for you? You tell me. What else do you want? And I will do it." BSB BSB: who said to Queen Esther, “In the citadel of Susa the Jews have killed and destroyed five hundred men, including Haman’s ten sons. What have they done in the rest of the royal provinces? Now what is your petition? It will be given to you. And what further do you request? It will be fulfilled.”
13 UDB Esther replied, "If it pleases you, allow the Jews here in Susa to do again tomorrow what you commanded them to do today. And also command that the bodies of Haman's ten sons be hanged on the gallows." BSB BSB: Esther replied, “If it pleases the king, may the Jews in Susa also have tomorrow to carry out today’s edict, and may the bodies of Haman’s ten sons be hanged on the gallows.”
14 UDB So the king commanded that the Jews be permitted to kill more of their enemies the next day. After he issued another order in Susa, the bodies of Haman's ten sons were hanged. BSB BSB: So the king commanded that this be done. An edict was issued in Susa, and they hanged the ten sons of Haman.
15 UDB The Jews in Susa gathered together and killed three hundred more people. But again, they did not take away any of their possessions. BSB BSB: On the fourteenth day of the month of Adar, the Jews in Susa came together again and put to death three hundred men there, but they did not lay a hand on the plunder.
16 UDB That happened on the 14th day of the month of Adar. On the following day, the Jews in Susa rested and celebrated. In all the other provinces, the Jewish people gathered together to defend themselves, and they killed seventy-five thousand people who hated them, but again, they took none of their possessions. BSB BSB: The rest of the Jews in the royal provinces also assembled to defend themselves and rid themselves of their enemies. They killed 75,000 who hated them, but they did not lay a hand on the plunder.
17 UDB On the thirteenth day of the month of Adar, and on the fourteenth day, they rested and made that a day of feasting and celebration. BSB BSB: This was done on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar, and on the fourteenth day they rested, making it a day of feasting and joy.
The Feast of Purim Instituted 18 UDB But the Jews who were in Susa came together on the thirteenth and the fourteenth days to fight, but on the fifteenth day they rested and made it a day of feasting and celebration. BSB BSB: The Jews in Susa, however, had assembled on the thirteenth and the fourteenth days of the month. So they rested on the fifteenth day, making it a day of feasting and joy.
19 UDB That is why the Jews of the villages, the Jews who live in the rural towns, observe the fourteenth day of the month of Adar as a day of gladness and celebration, when they send gifts of food to one another. BSB BSB: This is why the rural Jews, who live in the villages, observe the fourteenth day of the month of Adar as a day of joy and feasting. It is a holiday for sending gifts to one another.
20 UDB Mordecai wrote down all the things that had happened. Then he sent letters to the Jews who lived throughout the empire of King Ahasuerus. BSB BSB: Mordecai recorded these events and sent letters to all the Jews in all the provinces of King Xerxes, both near and far,
21 UDB He called them to observe the fourteenth and the fifteenth day of Adar every year, BSB BSB: to establish among them an annual celebration on the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month of Adar
22 UDB because those were the days when the Jews got victory over their enemies. It was in that month that their sorrow was turned to joy. Mordecai's letter told them that they should celebrate on those days by feasting and giving gifts of food to each other and especially to the poor people. BSB BSB: as the days on which the Jews gained rest from their enemies and the month in which their sorrow turned to joy and their mourning into a holiday. He wrote that these were to be days of feasting and joy, of sending gifts to one another and to the poor.
23 UDB So the Jews agreed to do what Mordecai wrote. They agreed to celebrate on those days every year. BSB BSB: So the Jews agreed to continue the custom they had started, as Mordecai had written to them.
24 UDB They would remember how Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, became an enemy of all the Jews. They would remember how he had made an evil plan to kill the Jews, and that he had cast lots to find a day to crush and destroy them. BSB BSB: For Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had plotted against the Jews to destroy them and had cast the Pur (that is, the lot) to crush and destroy them.
25 UDB They would remember that when the king learned about Haman's plan, he arranged that the evil plan to kill the Jews would result instead in Haman's own destruction, that Haman would be killed in place of the Jews, that he and that his sons would be hanged. BSB BSB: But when it came before the king, he commanded by letter that the wicked scheme which Haman had devised against the Jews should come back upon his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows.
26 UDB Therefore they called these days Purim, after the name of Pur (the lots that they cast). So that is what was written in this letter, what they had seen, and what had happened to them. BSB BSB: Therefore these days are called Purim, from the word Pur. Because of all the instructions in this letter, and because of all they had seen and experienced,
27 UDB The Jews throughout the empire agreed to celebrate in that manner on those two days every year. They said that they would tell their descendants and anyone who became Jewish to be certain to celebrate this festival every year. They should celebrate just as Mordecai told them to do in the letter that he wrote. BSB BSB: the Jews bound themselves to establish the custom that they and their descendants and all who join them should not fail to celebrate these two days at the appointed time each and every year, according to their regulation.
28 UDB They said that they would remember and celebrate on those two days every year, observed in every generation, by every family, in every city, and in every province. They solemnly declared that they and their descendants would never stop remembering and celebrating those days called Purim. BSB BSB: These days should be remembered and celebrated by every generation, family, province, and city, so that these days of Purim should not fail to be observed among the Jews, nor should the memory of them fade from their descendants.
29 UDB Then Mordecai and Queen Esther, who was the daughter of Abihail, wrote a second letter about the Purim festival. Esther used the authority that she had because of being the queen to confirm that what Mordecai had written in the first letter was true. BSB BSB: So Queen Esther daughter of Abihail, along with Mordecai the Jew, wrote with full authority to confirm this second letter concerning Purim.
30 UDB These letters were sent to all the Jews in the 127 provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus—words of peace and truth— BSB BSB: And Mordecai sent letters with words of peace and truth to all the Jews in the 127 provinces of the kingdom of Xerxes,
31 UDB to establish these days of Purim at their appointed times, as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther had established, just as the Jews had established for themselves and their descendants, matters that included their times of fasting and lamenting. BSB BSB: in order to confirm these days of Purim at their appointed time, just as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther had established them and had committed themselves and their descendants to the times of fasting and lamentation.
32 UDB The command of Esther confirmed these regulations that explained how they should celebrate the Purim festival. The instructions about the feast and the account of these events were written down in the book of history. BSB BSB: So Esther’s decree confirmed these regulations about Purim, which were written into the record.
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.