1 NOW IN the twelfth month, the month of Adar, on the thirteenth day of Adar when the king's command and his edict were about to be executed, on the [very] day that the enemies of the Jews had planned for a massacre of them, it was turned to the contrary and the Jews had rule over those who hated them. 2 The Jews gathered together in their cities throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus to lay hands on such as sought their hurt; and no man could withstand them, for the fear of them had fallen upon all the peoples. 3 And all the princes of the provinces and the chief rulers and the governors and they who attended to the king's business helped the Jews, because the fear of Mordecai had fallen upon them. 4 For Mordecai was great in the king's palace; and his fame went forth throughout all the provinces, for the man Mordecai became more and more powerful. 5 So the Jews smote all their enemies with the sword, slaughtering and destroying them, and did as they chose with those who hated them. 6 In Shushan, the capital itself, the Jews slew and destroyed 500 men. 7 And they killed Parshandatha, 8 Dalphon, Aspatha, Poratha, Adalia, 9 Aridatha, Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai, 10 And Vaizatha, the ten sons of Haman son of Hammedatha, the Jews' enemy; but on the spoil they laid not their hands.
11 On that day the number of those who were slain in Shushan, the capital, was brought before the king. 12 And the king said to Esther the queen, The Jews have slain and destroyed 500 men in Shushan, the capital, and the ten sons of Haman. What then have they done in the rest of the king's provinces! Now what is your petition? It shall be granted to you. Or what is your request further? It shall be done. 13 Then said Esther, If it pleases the king, let it be granted to the Jews which are in Shushan to do tomorrow also according to this day's decree, and let [the dead bodies of] Haman's ten sons be hanged on the gallows. 14 And the king commanded it to be done; the decree was given in Shushan, and they hanged [the bodies of] Haman's ten sons. 15 And the Jews that were in Shushan gathered together on the fourteenth day also of the month of Adar and slew 300 men in Shushan, but on the spoil they laid not their hands.
16 And the other Jews who were in the king's provinces gathered to defend their lives and had relief and rest from their enemies and slew of them that hated them 75,000; but on the spoil they laid not their hands. 17 This was done on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar, and on the fourteenth day they rested and made it a day of feasting and gladness. 18 But the Jews who were in Shushan [Susa] assembled on the thirteenth day and on the fourteenth, and on the fifteenth day they rested and made it a day of feasting and gladness. 19 Therefore the Jews of the villages, who dwell in the unwalled towns, make the fourteenth day of the month of Adar a day of gladness and feasting, a holiday, and a day for sending choice portions to one another.