Chapter 9

¹ For in the twelfth month, on the thirteenth day of the month which is Adar, the letters written by the king arrived. ² In that day the adversaries of the Jews perished: for no one resisted, through fear of them. ³ For the chiefs of the satraps, and the princes and the royal scribes, honored the Jews; for the fear of Mordecai lay upon them. ⁴ For the order of the king was in force, that he should be celebrated in all the kingdom. ⁶ And in the city Susa the Jews slew five hundred men: ⁷ both Pharsannestain, and Delphon and Phasga, ⁸ and Pharadatha, and Barea, and Sarbacha, ⁹ and Marmasima, and Aruphaeus, and Arsaeus, and Zabutheus, ¹⁰ the ten sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha the Bougean, the enemy of the Jews, and they plundered [their property] on the same day: ¹¹ and the number of them that perished in Susa was rendered to the king. ¹² And the king said to Esther, The Jews have slain five hundred men in the city Susa; and how, thinkest thou, have they used them in the rest of the country? What then dost thou yet ask, that it may be [done] for thee?

Εν γὰρ τῷ δωδεκάτῳ μηνί, τῇ τρισκαιδεκάτη τοῦ μηνός, ὅς ἐστιν Ἀδάρ, παρῆν τὰ γράμματα τὰ γραφέντα ὑπὸ τοῦ βασιλέως. ἐν αὐτῇ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἀπώλοντο οἱ ἀντικείμενοι τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις· οὐδεὶς γὰρ ἀντέστη, φοβούμενος αὐτούς. οἱ γὰρ ἄρχοντες τῶν σατραπῶν καὶ οἱ τύραννοι καὶ οἱ βασιλικοὶ γραμματεῖς ἐτίμων τοὺς Ἰουδαίους· ὁ γὰρ φόβος Μαρδοχαίου ἐνέκειτο αὐτοῖς. προσέπεσε γὰρ τὸ πρόσταγμα τοῦ βασιλέως ὀνομασθῆναι ἐν πάσῃ τῇ βασιλείᾳ καὶ ἐμεγαλύνετο. καὶ ἐπάταξαν οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι πληγὴν ἐν πᾶσι τοῖς ἐχθροῖς αὐτῶν πληγὴν μαχαίρας καὶ ἀναιρέσεως καὶ ἀπωλείας καὶ ἐποίησαν ἐν τοῖς μισοῦσιν αὐτοὺς κατὰ τὸ θέλημα αὐτῶν. καὶ ἐν Σούσοις τῇ πόλει ἀπέκτειναν οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι ἄνδρας πεντακοσίους, τόν τε Φαρσαννὲς καὶ Δελφὼν καὶ Φασγὰ καὶ Φαραδαθὰ καὶ Βαρέα καὶ Σαρβακὰ καὶ Μαρμασιμὰ καὶ Ρουφαῖον καὶ Ἀρσαῖον καὶ Ζαβουθαῖον, τοὺς δέκα υἱοὺς Ἀμὰν Ἀμαδάθου Βουγαίου τοῦ ἐχθροῦ τῶν Ἰουδαίων, καὶ διήρπασαν. ἐν αὐτῇ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐπεδόθη ὁ ἀριθμὸς τῷ βασιλεῖ τῶν ἀπολωλότων ἐν Σούσοις. εἶπε δὲ ὁ βασιλεὺς πρὸς Ἐσθήρ· ἀπώλεσαν οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι ἐν Σούσοις τῇ πόλει ἄνδρας πεντακοσίους· ἐν δὲ τῇ περιχώρῳ πῶς οἴει ἐχρήσαντο; τί οὖν ἀξιοῖς ἔτι, καὶ ἔσται σοι;

¹³ And Esther said to the king, Let it be granted to the Jews so to treat them tomorrow as to hang the ten sons of Haman. ¹⁴ And he permitted it to be so done; and he gave up to the Jews of the city the bodies of the sons of Haman to hang. ¹⁵ And the Jews assembled in Susa on the fourteenth [day] of Adar, and slew three hundred men, but plundered no property.

καὶ εἶπεν Ἐσθὴρ τῷ βασιλεῖ· δοθήτω τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις χρῆσθαι ὡσαύτως τὴν αὔριον, ὥστε τοὺς δέκα υἱοὺς Ἀμὰν κρεμάσαι. καὶ ἐπέτρεψεν οὕτως γενέσθαι καὶ ἐξέθηκε τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις τῆς πόλεως τὰ σώματα τῶν υἱῶν Ἀμὰν κρεμάσαι. καὶ συνήχθησαν οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι ἐν Σούσοις τῇ τεσσαρεσκαιδεκάτῃ τοῦ Ἀδὰρ καὶ ἀπέκτειναν ἄνδρας τριακοσίους καὶ οὐδὲν διήρπασαν.

¹⁶ And the rest of the Jews who were in the kingdom assembled, and helped one another, and obtained rest from their enemies: for they destroyed fifteen thousand of them on the thirteenth [day] of Adar, but took no spoil. ¹⁷ And they rested on the fourteenth of the same month, and kept it as a day of rest with joy and gladness. ¹⁸ And the Jews in the city Susa assembled also on the fourteenth [day] and rested; and they kept also the fifteenth with joy and gladness. ¹⁹ On this account then [it is that] the Jews dispersed in every foreign land keep the fourteenth of Adar [as] a holy day with joy, sending portions each to his neighbor.

οἱ δὲ λοιποὶ τῶν Ἰουδαίων οἱ ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ συνήχθησαν καὶ ἑαυτοῖς ἐβοήθουν καὶ ἀνεπαύσαντο ἀπὸ τῶν πολεμίων· ἀπώλεσαν γὰρ αὐτῶν μυρίους πεντακισχιλίους τῇ τρισκαιδεκάτῃ τοῦ Ἀδὰρ καὶ οὐδὲν διήρπασαν. καὶ ἀνεπαύσαντο τῇ τεσσαρεσκαιδεκάτῃ τοῦ αὐτοῦ μηνὸς καὶ ἦγον αὐτὴν ἡμέραν ἀναπαύσεως μετὰ χαρᾶς καὶ εὐφροσύνης. οἱ δὲ Ἰουδαῖοι ἐν Σούσοις τῇ πόλει συνήχθησαν καὶ τῇ τεσσαρεσκαιδεκάτῃ καὶ ἀνεπαύσαντο· ἦγον δὲ καὶ τὴν πεντεκαιδεκάτην μετὰ χαρᾶς καὶ εὐφροσύνης. διὰ τοῦτο οὖν οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι οἱ διεσπαρμένοι ἐν πάσῃ χώρᾳ τῇ ἔξω ἄγουσι τὴν τεσσαρεσκαιδεκάτην τοῦ Ἀδὰρ ἡμέραν ἀγαθὴν μετ᾿ εὐφροσύνης ἀποστέλλοντες μερίδας ἕκαστος τῷ πλησίον.

²⁰ And Mordecai wrote these things in a book, and sent them to the Jews, as many as were in the kingdom of Artaxerxes, both them that were near and them that were afar off, ²¹ to establish these [as] joyful days, and to keep the fourteenth and fifteenth of Adar; ²² for on these days the Jews obtained rest from their enemies: and [as to] the month, which was Adar, in which a change was made for them, from mourning to joy, and from sorrow to a good day, to spend the whole of it [in] good days of feasting and gladness, sending portions to their friends, and to the poor.

Ἔγραψε δὲ Μαρδοχαῖος τοὺς λόγους τούτους εἰς βιβλίον καὶ ἐξαπέστειλε τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις, ὅσοι ἦσαν ἐν τῇ Ἀρταξέρξου βασιλεία, τοῖς ἐγγὺς καὶ τοῖς μακράν, στῆσαι τὰς ἡμέρας ταύτας ἀγαθὰς ἄγειν τε τὴν τεσσαρεσκαιδεκάτην καὶ τὴν πεντεκαιδεκάτην τοῦ Ἀδὰρ 22 ἐν γὰρ ταύταις ταῖς ἡμέραις ἀνεπαύσαντο οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι ἀπὸ τῶν ἐχθρῶν αὐτῶν καὶ τὸν μῆνα, ἐν ᾧ ἐστράφη αὐτοῖς (ὃς ἦν Ἀδὰρ) ἀπὸ πένθους εἰς χαρὰν καὶ ἀπὸ ὀδύνης εἰς ἀγαθὴν ἡμέραν, ἄγειν ὅλον ἀγαθὰς ἡμέρας γάμων καὶ εὐφροσύνης, ἐξαποστέλλοντας μερίδας τοῖς φίλοις καὶ τοῖς πτωχοῖς.

²³ And the Jews consented [to this] accordingly as Mordecai wrote to them, ²⁴ [showing] how Haman the son of Hammedatha the Macedonian fought against them, how he made a decree and cast lots to destroy them utterly; ²⁵ also how he went in to the king, telling [him] to hang Mordecai: but all the calamities he tried to bring upon the Jews came upon himself, and he was hanged, and his children. ²⁶ Therefore these days were called Purim, because of the lots (for in their language they are called Pur); because of the words of this letter, and [because of] all they suffered on this account, and all that happened to them. ²⁷ And [Mordecai] established it, and the Jews took upon themselves, and upon their seed, and upon those that were joined to them [to observe it], neither would they on any account behave differently: but these days [were to be] a memorial kept in every generation, and city, and family, and province. ²⁸ And these days of the Purim, [said they], shall be kept forever, and their memorial shall not fail in any generation.

καὶ προσεδέξαντο οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι, καθὼς ἔγραψεν αὐτοῖς ὁ Μαρδοχαῖος, πῶς Ἀμὰν Ἀμαδάθου, ὁ Μακεδών, ἐπολέμει αὐτούς, καθὼς ἔθετο ψήφισμα καὶ κλῆρον ἀφανίσαι αὐτούς, καὶ ὡς εἰσῆλθε πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα λέγων κρεμάσαι τὸν Μαρδοχαῖον· ὅσα δὲ ἐπεχείρησεν ἐπάξαι ἐπὶ τοὺς Ἰουδαίους κακά, ἐπ᾿ αὐτὸν ἐγένοντο, καὶ ἐκρεμάσθη αὐτός, καὶ τὰ τέκνα αὐτοῦ. διὰ τοῦτο ἐπεκλήθησαν αἱ ἡμέραι αὗται Φρουραὶ διὰ τοὺς κλήρους, ὅτι τῇ διαλέκτῳ αὐτῶν καλοῦνται Φρουραί, διὰ τοὺς λόγους τῆς ἐπιστολῆς ταύτης καὶ ὅσα πεπόνθασι διὰ ταῦτα καὶ ὅσα αὐτοῖς ἐγένετο, καὶ ἔστησε· καὶ προσεδέχοντο οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι ἐφ᾿ ἑαυτοῖς καὶ ἐπὶ τῷ σπέρματι αὐτῶν καὶ ἐπὶ τοῖς προστεθειμένοις ἐπ᾿ αὐτῶν, οὐδὲ μὴν ἄλλων χρήσονται. αἱ δὲ ἡμέραι αὗται μνημόσυνον ἐπιτελούμενον κατὰ γενεὰν καὶ γενεὰν καὶ πόλιν καὶ πατριὰν καὶ χώραν. αἱ δὲ ἡμέραι αὗται τῶν Φρουραὶ ἀχθήσονται εἰς τὸν ἅπαντα χρόνον, καὶ τὸ μνημόσυνον αὐτῶν οὐ μὴ ἐκλίπῃ ἐκ τῶν γενεῶν.

²⁹ And queen Esther, the daughter of Amminadab, and Mordecai the Jew, wrote all that they had done, and the confirmation of the letter of Purim. ³¹ And Mordecai and Esther the queen appointed [a fast] for themselves privately, even at that time also having formed their plan against their own health. ³² And Esther established it by a command forever, and it was written for a memorial.

καὶ ἔγραψεν Ἐσθὴρ ἡ βασίλισσα θυγάτηρ Ἀμιναδὰβ καὶ Μαρδοχαῖος ὁ Ἰουδαῖος ὅσα ἐποίησαν τό τε στερέωμα τῆς ἐπιστολῆς τῶν Φρουραί. καὶ Μαρδοχαῖος καὶ Ἐσθὴρ ἡ βασίλισσα ἔστησαν ἑαυτοῖς καθ᾿ ἑαυτῶν, καὶ τότε στήσαντες κατὰ τῆς ὑγείας ἑαυτῶν καὶ τὴν βουλὴν αὐτῶν. καὶ Ἐσθὴρ λόγῳ ἔστησεν εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα, καὶ ἐγράφη εἰς μνημόσυνον.