Ezra 7:11‑28• 11And this is the copy of the letter that king Artaxerxes gave to Ezra the priest, the scribe, a scribe of the words of the commandments of Jehovah, and of his statutes to Israel:
12Artaxerxes, king of kings, to Ezra the priest, an accomplished scribe of the law of the God of the heavens, and so forth.
13I have given orders that all they of the people of Israel, and of their priests and the Levites, in my realm, who are disposed to go to Jerusalem, go with thee.
14Because thou art sent by the king, and by his seven counsellors, to inquire concerning Judah and Jerusalem, according to the law of thy God which is in thy hand;
15and to carry the silver and gold which the king and his counsellors have freely offered to the God of Israel, whose habitation is at Jerusalem,
16and all the silver and gold that thou canst find in all the province of Babylon, besides the voluntary offering of the people, and of the priests, who offer willingly for the house of their God which is at Jerusalem.
17Therefore thou shalt buy diligently with this money bullocks, rams, lambs, with their oblations and their drink-offerings, and offer them upon the altar of the house of your God which is at Jerusalem.
18And whatever shall seem good to thee and to thy brethren to do with the rest of the silver and the gold, that do according to the will of your God.
19And the vessels that have been given thee for the service of the house of thy God, deliver before the God of Jerusalem.
20And whatever more shall be needful for the house of thy God which thou shalt have occasion to bestow, bestow it out of the king's treasure house.
21And I, I Artaxerxes the king, do give orders to all the treasurers that are beyond the river, that whatever Ezra the priest and scribe of the law of the God of the heavens shall require of you, it be done diligently,
22unto a hundred talents of silver, and to a hundred measures of wheat, and to a hundred baths of wine, and to a hundred baths of oil, and salt without prescribing how much.
23Whatever is commanded by the God of the heavens, let it be carefully done for the house of the God of the heavens; for why should there be wrath against the realm of the king and his sons?
24Also we inform you, as regards all the priests and Levites, singers, doorkeepers, Nethinim, and ministers of this house of God, it shall not be lawful to impose tribute, tax, and toll upon them.
25And thou, Ezra, after the wisdom of thy God, which is in thy hand, set magistrates and judges who may judge all the people that are beyond the river, all such as know the laws of thy God; and teach ye him that knows them not.
26And whosoever will not do the law of thy God and the law of the king, let judgment be executed diligently upon him, whether unto death, or to banishment, or to confiscation of goods, or to imprisonment.
27Blessed be Jehovah the God of our fathers, who has put such a thing as this in the king's heart, to beautify the house of Jehovah which is at Jerusalem;
28and has extended mercy to me before the king and his counsellors, and before all the king's mighty princes. And I was strengthened, as the hand of Jehovah my God was upon me; and I gathered together out of Israel chief men to go up with me. (Ezra 7:11‑28)
Esther 8:1‑10:3• 1On that day did king Ahasuerus give the house of Haman the Jews' oppressor to Esther the queen. And Mordecai came before the king; for Esther had told what he was to her.
2And the king took off his ring, which he had taken from Haman, and gave it to Mordecai. And Esther set Mordecai over the house of Haman.
3And Esther spoke yet again before the king, and fell down at his feet, and besought him with tears to put away the mischief of Haman the Agagite, and his device which he had devised against the Jews.
4And the king held out the golden sceptre toward Esther. And Esther arose and stood before the king,
5and said, If it please the king and if I have found grace before him, and the thing seem right to the king, and I be pleasing in his sight, let it be written to reverse the letters devised by Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, which he wrote to destroy the Jews that are in all the king's provinces.
6For how shall I endure to see the evil that shall befall my people? and how shall I endure to see the destruction of my kindred?
7And king Ahasuerus said to queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, Behold, I have given Esther the house of Haman, and him they have hanged upon the gallows, because he stretched forth his hand against the Jews.
8Write ye then for the Jews as seems good to you, in the king's name, and seal it with the king's ring. For a writing that is written in the king's name, and sealed with the king's ring, cannot be reversed.
9Then were the king's scribes called at that time, in the third month, that is, the month Sivan, on the three and twentieth day thereof; and it was written according to all that Mordecai commanded, to the Jews, and to the satraps, and the governors, and the princes of the provinces which are from India even to Ethiopia, a hundred and twenty-seven provinces, to every province according to the writing thereof, and to every people according to their language, and to the Jews according to their writing and according to their language.
10And he wrote in the name of king Ahasuerus, and sealed it with the king's ring, and sent letters by couriers on horseback riding on coursers, horses of blood reared in the breeding studs:
11stating that the king granted the Jews that were in every city to gather themselves together, and to stand for their life, to destroy, to slay, and to cause to perish, all the power of the people and province that might assault them, their little ones and women, and to take the spoil of them for a prey,
12upon one day in all the provinces of king Ahasuerus, upon the thirteenth of the twelfth month, that is, the month Adar.
13That the decree might be given in every province, a copy of the writing was published to all the peoples, and that the Jews should be ready against that day to avenge themselves on their enemies.
14The couriers mounted on coursers and horses of blood went out, being hastened and pressed on by the king's commandment. And the decree was given at Shushan the fortress.
15And Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal apparel of blue and white, and with a great crown of gold, and with a mantle of byssus and purple; and the city of Shushan shouted and was glad.
16The Jews had light, and joy, and gladness, and honour.
17And in every province, and in every city, wherever the king's commandment and his decree came, the Jews had joy and gladness, a feast and a good day. And many among the peoples of the land became Jews; for the fear of the Jews had fallen upon them.
1And in the twelfth month, that is, the month Adar, on the thirteenth day thereof, 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 power over them (but it was turned to the contrary, that the Jews had power over them that hated them),
2the Jews gathered themselves together in their cities throughout the provinces of king Ahasuerus, to lay hand on such as sought their hurt. And no man could withstand them; for the fear of them had fallen upon all the peoples.
3And all the princes of the provinces, and the satraps, and the governors and officers of the king, helped the Jews; for the fear of Mordecai had fallen upon them.
4For Mordecai was great in the king's house, and his fame went forth throughout the provinces; for the man Mordecai became continually greater.
5And the Jews smote all their enemies with the stroke of the sword and slaughter and destruction, and did what they would to those that hated them.
6And in Shushan the fortress the Jews slew and destroyed five hundred men.
7And Parshandatha, and Dalphon, and Aspatha,
8and Poratha, and Adalia, and Aridatha,
9and Parmashta, and Arisai, and Aridai, and Vajezatha,
10the ten sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the oppressor of the Jews, they slew; but they laid not their hands on the prey.
11On that day the number of those that were slain in Shushan the fortress was brought before the king.
12And the king said to Esther the queen, The Jews have slain and destroyed five hundred men in Shushan the fortress, and the ten sons of Haman; what have they done in the rest of the king's provinces? And what is thy petition? and it shall be granted thee; and what is thy request further? and it shall be done.
13And Esther said, If it please the king, let it be granted to the Jews that are in Shushan to do to-morrow also according to this day's decree, and let Haman's ten sons be hanged upon the gallows.
14And the king commanded it so to be done: and the decree was given at Shushan; and they hanged Haman's ten sons.
15And the Jews that were in Shushan gathered themselves together on the fourteenth day also of the month Adar, and slew three hundred men at Shushan; but they laid not their hand on the prey.
16And the other Jews that were in the king's provinces gathered themselves together, and stood for their life, and had rest from their enemies; and they slew of them that hated them seventy-five thousand (but they laid not their hand on the prey),
17on the thirteenth day of the month Adar; and on the fourteenth of the same they rested, and made it a day of feasting and joy.
18But the Jews that were at Shushan gathered themselves together on the thirteenth day thereof, and on the fourteenth thereof; and on the fifteenth of the same they rested, and made it a day of feasting and joy.
19Therefore the Jews of the villages that dwell in the country towns make the fourteenth of the month Adar a day of joy and feasting, and a good day, and on which they send portions one to another.
20And Mordecai wrote these things, and sent letters to all the Jews near and far that were in all the provinces of king Ahasuerus,
21to establish this among them, that they should keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and the fifteenth day of the same, yearly,
22as the days on which the Jews rested from their enemies, and the month that was turned to them from sorrow to joy, and from mourning into a good day; that they should make them days of feasting and joy, and of sending portions one to another, and gifts to the poor.
23And the Jews undertook to do as they had begun, and as Mordecai had written to them.
24For Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the oppressor of all the Jews, had devised against the Jews to destroy them, and had cast Pur, that is, the lot, to consume them and to destroy them;
25and when Esther 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 they hanged him and his sons on the gallows.
26Therefore they called these days Purim after the name of Pur. Therefore, according to all the words of this letter, and for what they had seen concerning this matter and what had happened to them,
27the Jews ordained and took upon them, and upon their seed, and upon all such as joined themselves to them, so that it should not fail, that they would observe these two days according to their writing and according to their fixed time, every year;
28and that these days should be remembered and observed throughout every generation, in 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 cease from among their seed.
29And queen Esther the daughter of Abihail, and Mordecai the Jew, wrote with all authority to confirm this second letter of Purim.
30And he sent letters to all the Jews, to the hundred and twenty-seven provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, words of peace and truth,
31to confirm these days of Purim in their fixed times, according as Mordecai the Jew and queen Esther had enjoined them, and as they had decreed for themselves and for their seed, as to the matters of the fastings and their cry.
32And the decree of Esther confirmed these matters of Purim; and it was written in the book.
1And king Ahasuerus laid a tribute upon the land and the isles of the sea.
2And all the acts of his power and of his might, and the declaration of the greatness of Mordecai, to which the king advanced him, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Media and Persia?
3For Mordecai the Jew was second to king Ahasuerus, and great among the Jews, and accepted of the multitude of his brethren, seeking the welfare of his people, and speaking peace to all his seed. (Esther 8:1‑10:3)