The day came which Haman had planned for the slaughter of all the Jews; he was no longer to carry out the cruel decree, but there were others who would have willingly done so! But by the second decree, the Jews were allowed to destroy all who attacked. them, and all the officers of the king helped the Jews, because they feared Mordecai who had become great, and became continually greater. So it was that the Jews smote all their enemies to death, including the ten sons of Taman, but they took none of their enemies property which the decree allowed them to take,
In Shushan the slaughter of the enemies occupied two days, and the bodies of Haman's sons were hung upon the gallows, A feast was founded upon this intervention of God, on the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month every year, This feast of Purim is still observed by the Jews, about the first of March.