Esther 9
1 Now in the twelfth month, that is, the month Adar, on the thirteenth
day of the same, 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, (though it was turned to the contrary, that the
Jews had rule over them that hated them;)
Deuteronomy 28 ... 1 And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth:2 And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God. 3 Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field. 4 Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep. 5 Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store. 6 Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out. 7 The Lord shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face:they shall come out against thee one way, and flee before thee seven ways. 8 The Lord shall command the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest thine hand unto; and he shall bless thee in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. 9 The Lord shall establish thee an holy people unto himself, as he hath sworn unto thee, if thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, and walk in his ways. 10 And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the Lord; and they shall be afraid of thee. 11 And the Lord shall make thee plenteous in goods, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground, in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers to give thee. 12 The Lord shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand:and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow. 13 And the Lord shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the Lord thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them:14 And thou shalt not go aside from any of the words which I command thee this day, to the right hand, or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.
(One of the reasons Haman hated Mordecai was because Mordecai refused to bow himself down to Haman, which would make Haman a god. Mordecai worshipped the God of heaven.)
Esther 3 ...
1 After these things did king Ahasuerus promote Haman the son of
Hammedatha the Agagite, and advanced him, and set his seat above all the
princes that were with him. 2 And all the king's servants, that were in
the king's gate, bowed, and reverenced Haman: for the king had so
commanded concerning him. But Mordecai bowed not, nor did him reverence.
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Esther 9
2 The Jews gathered themselves
together in their cities throughout all the provinces of the king
Ahasuerus, to lay hand on such as sought their hurt: and no man could
withstand them; for the fear of them fell upon all people.
3 And all the
rulers of the provinces, and the lieutenants, and the deputies, and
officers of the king, helped the Jews; because the fear of Mordecai fell
upon them.
4 For Mordecai was great in the king's house, and his fame
went out throughout all the provinces: for this man Mordecai waxed
greater and greater.
5 Thus the Jews smote all their enemies with the
stroke of the sword, and slaughter, and destruction, and did what they
would unto those that hated them.
6 And in Shushan the palace the Jews
slew and destroyed five hundred men. 7 And Parshandatha, and Dalphon,
and Aspatha, 8 And Poratha, and Adalia, and Aridatha, 9 And Parmashta,
and Arisai, and Aridai, and Vajezatha,
10 The ten sons of Haman the son
of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews, slew they; but on the spoil laid
they not their hand. 11 On that day the number of those that were slain
in Shushan the palace was brought before the king.
12 And the king said unto Esther the queen, The Jews have slain and
destroyed five hundred men in Shushan the palace, and the ten sons of
Haman; what have they done in the rest of the king's provinces? now what
is thy petition? and it shall be granted thee: or what is thy request
further? and it shall be done.
13 Then said Esther, If it please the
king, let it be granted to the Jews which are in Shushan to do to morrow
also according unto this day's decree, and let Haman's ten sons be
hanged upon the gallows.
14 And the king commanded it so to be done: and
the decree was given at Shushan; and they hanged Haman's ten sons.
15
For 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 on the prey they laid not their hand.
16 But the other Jews
that were in the king's provinces gathered themselves together, and
stood for their lives, and had rest from their enemies, and slew of
their foes seventy and five thousand (75,000) , but they laid not their hands on
the prey,
17 On the thirteenth day of the month Adar; and on the
fourteenth day of the same rested they, and made it a day of feasting
and gladness. 18 But the Jews that were at Shushan assembled together on
the thirteenth day thereof, and on the fourteenth thereof; and on the
fifteenth day of the same they rested, and made it a day of feasting and
gladness.
19 Therefore the Jews of the villages, that dwelt in the
unwalled towns, made the fourteenth day of the month Adar a day of
gladness and feasting, and a good day, and of sending portions one to
another.
20 And Mordecai wrote these things, and sent letters unto all the Jews
that were in all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus, both nigh and far,
21 To stablish this among them, that they should keep the fourteenth
day of the month Adar, and the fifteenth day of the same, yearly, 22 As
the days wherein the Jews rested from their enemies, and the month which
was turned unto 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.
23 And the Jews
undertook to do as they had begun, and as Mordecai had written unto
them; 24 Because Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy 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; 25 But
when Esther came before the king, he commanded by letters that his
wicked device, which he devised against the Jews, should return upon his
own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows. 26
Wherefore they called these days Purim after the name of Pur.
Therefore
for all the words of this letter, and of that which they had seen
concerning this matter, and which had come unto them, 27 The Jews
ordained, and took upon them, and upon their seed, and upon all such as
joined themselves unto them, so as it should not fail, that they would
keep these two days according to their writing, and according to their
appointed time every year; 28 And that these days should be remembered
and kept throughout every generation, 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 perish from their seed.
29 Then Esther
the queen, the daughter of Abihail, and Mordecai the Jew, wrote with all
authority, to confirm this second letter of Purim. 30 And he sent the
letters unto all the Jews, to the hundred twenty and seven provinces of
the kingdom of Ahasuerus, with words of peace and truth, 31 To confirm
these days of Purim in their times appointed, according as Mordecai the
Jew and Esther the queen had enjoined them, and as they had decreed for
themselves and for their seed, the matters of the fastings and their
cry. 32 And the decree of Esther confirmed these matters of Purim; and
it was written in the book.
Esther 10
1 And the king Ahasuerus laid a tribute upon the land, and upon the
isles of the sea. 2 And all the acts of his power and of his might, and
the declaration of the greatness of Mordecai, whereunto the king
advanced him, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the
kings of Media and Persia?
3 For Mordecai the Jew was next unto king
Ahasuerus, and great among the Jews, and accepted of the multitude of
his brethren, seeking the wealth of his people, and speaking peace to
all his seed.