And so, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month—that is, the month of Adar—when the king’s command and decree were to be executed, the very day on which the enemies of the Jews had expected to get them in their power, the opposite happened, and the Jews got their enemies in their power.
Throughout the provinces of King Ahasuerus, the Jews mustered in their cities to attack those who sought their hurt; and no one could withstand them, for the fear of them had fallen upon all the peoples.
Indeed, all the officials of the provinces—the satraps, the governors, and the king’s stewards—showed deference to the Jews, because the fear of Mordecai had fallen upon them.
For Mordecai was now powerful in the royal palace, and his fame was spreading through all the provinces; this man Mordecai was growing ever more powerful.
So the Jews struck at their enemiesatheir enemies I.e., those armed forces that were reckless enough to attack despite the king’s declaration that the Jews could stand their ground with impunity; cf. v. 2 and 8.11. with the sword, slaying and destroying; they wreaked their will upon their enemies.
Word-by-Word Analysis
ויכו
42
היהודים
80
בכלאיביהם
120
מכתחרב
670
והרג
214
ואבדן
63
ויעשו
392
בשנאיהם
408
כרצונם
406
Esther 9:6
Gematria: 2299
ובשושןהבירההרגוהיהודיםואבדחמשמאותאיש
In the fortress Shushan the Jews killed a total of five hundred of them.
Word-by-Word Analysis
ובשושן
664
הבירה
222
הרגו
214
היהודים
80
ואבד
13
חמש
348
מאות
447
איש
311
Esther 9:7
Gematria: 2968
ואתפרשנדתאואתדלפוןואתאספתא
They also killedbThey also killed Moved up from v. 10 for clarity. Parshandatha,Dalphon,Aspatha,
the king said to Queen Esther, “In the fortress Shushan alone the Jews have killed a total of five hundred, as well as the ten sons of Haman. What then must they have done in the provinces of the realm! What is your wish now? It shall be granted you. And what else is your request? It shall be fulfilled.”
“If it please Your Majesty,” Esther replied, “let the Jews in Shushan be permitted to act tomorrow also as they did today; and let Haman’s ten sons be impaled on the stake.”
Word-by-Word Analysis
ותאמר
647
אסתר
661
אםעלהמלך
236
טוב
17
ינתן
510
גםמחר
291
ליהודים
105
אשר
501
בשושן
658
לעשות
806
כדת
424
היום
61
ואת
407
עשרת
970
בניהמן
157
יתלו
446
עלהעץ
265
Esther 9:14
Gematria: 5171
ויאמרהמלךלהעשותכןותנתןדתבשושןואתעשרתבניהמןתלו
The king ordered that this should be done, and the decree was proclaimed in Shushan. Haman’s ten sons were impaled:
The rest of the Jews, those in the king’s provinces, likewise mustered and fought for their lives. They disposed of their enemies,ctheir enemies See note at v. 5. killing seventy-five thousand of their foes; but they did not lay hands on the spoil.
(But the Jews in Shushan mustered on both the thirteenth and fourteenth days, and so rested on the fifteenth, and made it a day of feasting and merrymaking.)
That is why village Jews, who live in unwalled towns, observe the fourteenth day of the month of Adar and make it a day of merrymaking and feasting, and as a holiday and an occasion for sending gifts to one another.
the same days on which the Jews enjoyed relief from their foes and the same month that had been transformed for them from one of grief and mourning to one of festive joy. They were to observe them as days of feasting and merrymaking, and as an occasion for sending gifts to one another and presents to the poor.
Word-by-Word Analysis
כימים
120
אשרנחו
565
בהם
47
היהודים
80
מאיביהם
108
והחדש
323
אשר
501
נהפך
155
להם
75
מיגון
109
לשמחה
383
ומאבל
79
ליום
86
טוב
17
לעשות
806
אותם
447
ימי
60
משתה
745
ושמחה
359
ומשלח
384
מנות
496
איש
311
לרעהו
311
ומתנות
902
לאבינים
143
Esther 9:23
Gematria: 3665
וקבלהיהודיםאתאשרהחלולעשותואתאשרכתבמרדכיאליהם
The Jews accordingly assumed as an obligation that which they had begun to practice and that Mordecai prescribed for them.
For Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the foe of all the Jews, had plotted to destroy the Jews, and had cast pur—that is, the lot—with intent to crush and exterminate them.
But when [Esther] came before the king, he commanded: “With the promulgation of this decree,dWith the promulgation of this decree Meaning of Heb. uncertain. let the evil plot that he devised against the Jews recoil on his own head!” So they impaled him and his sons on the stake.
For that reason these days were named Purim, after pur.In view, then, of all the instructions in the said letter and of what they had experienced in that matter and what had befallen them,
the Jews undertook and irrevocably obligated themselves and their descendants, and all who might join them, to observe these two days in the manner prescribed and at the proper time each year.
Consequently, these days are recalled and observed in every generation: by every family, every province, and every city. And these days of Purim shall never cease among the Jews, and the memory of them shall never perish among their descendants.
eForce of these verses is uncertain in part. Verse 29 reads literally, “Then Queen Esther, daughter of Abihail, and Mordecai the Jew, wrote with full authority to confirm this second letter of Purim.” Then Queen Esther daughter of Abihail wrote a second letter of Purim for the purpose of confirming with full authority the aforementioned one of Mordecai the Jew.
Dispatches were sent to all the Jews in the hundred and twenty-seven provinces of the realm of Ahasuerus with an ordinance of “equity and honesty”:fof “equity and honesty” I.e., of new holidays, the instituting of which is linked to love of equity and honesty in Zech. 8.19.
These days of Purim shall be observed at their proper time, as Mordecai the Jew—and now Queen Esther—has obligated them to do, and just as they have assumed for themselves and their descendants the obligation of the fasts with their lamentations.gjust as they have assumed … fasts with their lamentations The Jews had long been observing fast days in commemoration of national calamities; see Zech. 7.5; 8.19.
Word-by-Word Analysis
לקים
180
אתימי
461
הפרים
335
האלה
41
בזמניהם
154
כאשר
521
קים
150
עליהם
155
מרדכי
274
היהודי
40
ואסתר
667
המלכה
100
וכאשר
527
קימו
156
עלנפשם
570
ועלזרעם
423
דברי
216
הצומות
547
וזעקתם
623
Esther 9:32
Gematria: 2570
ומאמראסתרקיםדבריהפריםהאלהונכתבבספרס
And Esther’s ordinance validating these observances of Purim was recorded in a scroll.