10. They were the ten sons of Haman, son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews. But the Jews did not take their belongings.
11. And on that day the number of the men killed in the palace at Susa was reported to the king.
12. The king said to Queen Esther, “The Jews have killed and destroyed 500 men in the palace at Susa. And they have also killed Haman’s ten sons. What have they done in the rest of the king’s empire! Now what else are you asking? I will do it! And what else do you want? It will be done.”
13. Esther answered, “If it pleases the king, give the Jews who are in Susa permission to do this. Let them do again tomorrow what the king ordered for today. And let the bodies of Haman’s ten sons be hanged on the platform built for hanging people to death.”
14. So the king ordered that it be done. A law was given in Susa, and the bodies of the ten sons of Haman were hanged.
15. The Jews in Susa came together. It was on the fourteenth day of the month of Adar. And they killed 300 men in Susa. But they did not take their belongings.
16. At that same time, the other Jews in the king’s empire also met. They met in order to protect themselves and get rid of their enemies. And they killed 75,000 of those who hated them. But they did not take their belongings.
17. This happened on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar. And on the fourteenth day the Jews rested. They made it a day of joyful feasting.
18. But the Jews in Susa met on the thirteenth and fourteenth days of the month of Adar. Then they rested on the fifteenth day. They made it a day of joyful feasting.
19. This is why the Jews who live in the country and small villages celebrate on the fourteenth day. They keep the fourteenth day of the month of Adar as a day of joyful feasting. And it is also a day for giving presents to each other.
20. Mordecai wrote down everything that had happened. Then he sent letters to all the Jews in all the empire of King Xerxes. He sent letters to places far and near.
21. Mordecai did this to have the Jews celebrate every year. They were to celebrate on the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month of Adar.
22. It was to celebrate a time when the Jews got rid of their enemies. They were also to celebrate it as the month their sadness was turned to joy. It was the month when their crying for the dead was turned into celebration. Mordecai wrote letters to all the Jews. He wrote to tell them to celebrate those days as days of joyful feasting. It was to be a time of giving food to each other. And it was a time of giving presents to the poor.
23. So the Jews agreed to do what Mordecai had written to them. And they agreed to hold the celebration every year.
24. Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, was the enemy of all the Jews. He had made an evil plan against the Jews to destroy them. And Haman had thrown the pur (that is, the lot) to choose a day to ruin and destroy the Jews.
25. But when the king learned of the evil plan, he sent out written orders. This was so the evil plans Haman had made against the Jews would be used against him. And those orders said that Haman and his sons should be hanged on the platform for hanging.