CLARITY EDITION · OLD TESTAMENT
Esther 9
Chapter 9 of 10
Chapter Overview
What happens in Esther 9
On the appointed day, the Jews defeat their enemies throughout the empire. Mordecai and Esther establish the annual festival of Purim to remember how their sorrow was turned to joy and their mourning to celebration.
Scripture
Esther 9
The Jews Defeat Their Enemies
Study note
On the thirteenth day of Adar, the very day Haman had chosen by casting lots, the opposite of what he had planned happened. Instead of being destroyed, the Jews defended themselves and overcame those who hated them. Notably, the text emphasizes that the Jews did not take any plunder, even though they were allowed to.
1 The thirteenth day of the twelfth month -- the month of Adar -- finally arrived. This was the day the king's original decree was set to be carried out, the day the enemies of the Jews expected to overpower them. But everything was flipped upside down: instead, the Jews overpowered those who hated them. 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;)
2 All across King Xerxes' empire, Jews came together in their cities to fight back against those who wanted to hurt them. No one could stand against them. Everyone had become afraid of them. 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 All the local rulers, governors, and royal officers helped the Jews. They did this because Mordecai's power scared them. 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 Mordecai had become very powerful in the king's palace. His fame spread across every province. His power kept growing stronger and stronger. 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 The Jews struck down all their enemies with the sword. They killed and destroyed them and did whatever they wanted to those who had plotted against them. 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 In the palace complex at Susa alone, the Jews killed five hundred men. And in Shushan the palace the Jews slew and destroyed five hundred men.
7 Among the dead were Parshandatha, Dalphon, and Aspatha, And Parshandatha, and Dalphon, and Aspatha,
8 along with Poratha, Adalia, and Aridatha, And Poratha, and Adalia, and Aridatha,
9 and also Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai, and Vajezatha. And Parmashta, and Arisai, and Aridai, and Vajezatha,
10 the ten sons of Haman, son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews. They killed them all, but they did not take any of their possessions as plunder. 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.
Esther's Further Request
Study note
When the king told Esther the results, she asked for one more day for the Jews in Susa to defend themselves and for the bodies of Haman's ten sons to be publicly displayed as a warning.
11 That same day, when the king received the count of those killed in the palace at Susa, On that day the number of those that were slain in Shushan the palace was brought before the king.
12 he said to Queen Esther, "Right here in Susa alone, the Jews have killed five hundred men plus Haman's ten sons. I can only imagine what happened across the rest of the provinces! Now -- is there anything else you want? It is yours. Do you have another request? It will be done." 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 Esther said, "If it pleases the king, let the Jews in Susa keep defending themselves tomorrow under the same order as today. Also, let the bodies of Haman's ten sons be hung up on the gallows for all to see." 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 The king granted both requests. The decree was extended in Susa for another day, and Haman's ten sons were displayed on the gallows. And the king commanded it so to be done: and the decree was given at Shushan; and they hanged Haman's ten sons.
15 On the fourteenth day of Adar, the Jews in Susa gathered together again and killed three hundred more men. But once again, they did not take any plunder. 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.
The Days of Rest and Celebration
Study note
The Jews in the provinces fought on the thirteenth and rested on the fourteenth. The Jews in Susa fought on both the thirteenth and fourteenth and rested on the fifteenth. This difference is why Purim is celebrated on different days in walled and unwalled cities.
16 Meanwhile, the Jews in the other provinces throughout the kingdom also organized and defended their lives. They found relief from those who wanted to destroy them and killed seventy-five thousand of their enemies. But they did not take any plunder. 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, but they laid not their hands on the prey,
17 All of this fighting took place on the thirteenth of Adar. On the fourteenth, the Jews rested and turned it into a day of joyful feasting and celebration. 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 In Susa, however, the Jews fought on both the thirteenth and the fourteenth. So they rested on the fifteenth and made that their day of joyful feasting and celebration. 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 Jews living in the countryside and small towns celebrate the fourteenth of Adar as their special holiday. It is a day of feasting and celebration. They send gifts of food to each other. 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.
The Festival of Purim Is Established
Study note
Mordecai wrote letters establishing the annual celebration of Purim, named after the 'Pur' (lot) that Haman had cast. The festival celebrates how sorrow was turned to joy. It includes feasting, giving gifts of food, and helping the poor. Esther added her own authority to make the celebration permanent.
20 Mordecai wrote down all that took place. He sent letters to every Jew in the lands of King Xerxes, near and far. 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 He told them to celebrate the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month of Adar every year. 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 These were the very days when the Jews finally found relief from those who wanted to destroy them. This was the month their grief turned to happiness and their mourning turned to partying. Mordecai directed them to make these days occasions of feasting and joy, of sharing gifts of food with friends and giving presents to those in need. 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 The Jews gladly agreed to keep the feast going. They did just as Mordecai's letters told them. And the Jews undertook to do as they had begun, and as Mordecai had written unto them;
24 The backstory was this: Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of all Jewish people, had hatched a plan to wipe them out. He had cast the Pur -- meaning 'the lot' -- to decide when to crush and destroy them. 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 brought the matter before the king, he issued written orders that turned Haman's wicked scheme back on his own head. Haman and all his sons came to be hanged on the gallows. 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 Because of this, the holiday was named Purim, after the word Pur. Because of everything described in this account -- both what they had witnessed firsthand and what had been done to them -- 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 set up a lasting custom. It was for them, their children, and all who would join them later. They vowed to keep these two days every year. They would do it at the right time and in the right way. 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 Every family, in every city and land, would mark these days. Each new age group would keep them. Purim was never to fade from Jewish life. Its story would live on through their children forever. 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 Queen Esther and Mordecai the Jew wrote a second letter. It had full royal power. It made the Purim feast official. Esther was the daughter of Abihail. Then Esther the queen, the daughter of Abihail, and Mordecai the Jew, wrote with all authority, to confirm this second letter of Purim.
30 Mordecai sent copies to all the Jews across the 127 provinces of Xerxes' kingdom. His message carried words of peace and honesty. 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 These letters locked in the dates for Purim. Mordecai and Queen Esther had set them up. The people also took on the customs of fasting and mourning. 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 Esther's royal order made the Purim traditions official. It was all written down in the permanent records. And the decree of Esther confirmed these matters of Purim; and it was written in the book.
Key Themes
Themes in Esther 9
God's complete deliverance from enemiesEstablishing memorials to remember God's faithfulnessTurning sorrow into celebrationPassing the story of deliverance to future generations
Apply This Today
Living Esther 9
The feast of Purim was established so that every generation would remember how God delivered His people from destruction. Create your own 'Purim moments' — mark the times God delivered you, write them down, and share them with your children. Remembering past deliverance builds faith for future challenges.
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