以斯帖記9:1-32

 

9:1 十二月，乃亞達月十三日，王的諭旨將要舉行，就是猶大人的仇敵盼望轄制他們的日子，猶大人反倒轄制恨他們的人。
9:2 猶大人在亞哈隨魯王各省的城裡聚集，下手擊殺那要害他們的人。無人能敵擋他們，因為各族都懼怕他們。
9:3 各省的首領、總督、省長，和辦理王事的人，因懼怕末底改，就都幫助猶大人。
9:4 末底改在朝中為大，名聲傳遍各省，日漸昌盛。
9:5 猶大人用刀擊殺一切仇敵，任意殺滅恨他們的人。
9:6 在書珊城，猶大人殺滅了五百人；
9:7 又殺巴珊大他、達分、亞斯帕他、
9:8 破拉他、亞大利雅、亞利大他、
9:9 帕瑪斯他、亞利賽、亞利代、瓦耶撒他；
9:10 這十人都是哈米大他的孫子、猶大人仇敵哈曼的兒子。猶大人卻沒有下手奪取財物。
9:11 當日，將書珊城被殺的人數呈在王前。
9:12 王對王后以斯帖說：「猶大人在書珊城殺滅了五百人，又殺了哈曼的十個兒子，在王的各省不知如何呢？現在你要甚麼，我必賜給你；你還求甚麼，也必為你成就。」
9:13 以斯帖說：「王若以為美，求你准書珊的猶大人，明日也照今日的旨意行，並將哈曼十個兒子的屍首掛在木架上。」
9:14 王便允准如此行。旨意傳在書珊，人就把哈曼十個兒子的屍首掛起來了。
9:15 亞達月十四日，書珊的猶大人又聚集在書珊，殺了三百人，卻沒有下手奪取財物。
9:16 在王各省其餘的猶大人也都聚集保護性命，殺了恨他們的人七萬五千，卻沒有下手奪取財物。這樣，就脫離仇敵，得享平安。
9:17 亞達月十三日，行了這事；十四日安息，以這日為設筵歡樂的日子。
9:18 但書珊的猶大人，這十三日、十四日聚集殺戮仇敵；十五日安息，以這日為設筵歡樂的日子。
9:19 所以住無城牆鄉村的猶大人，如今都以亞達月十四日為設筵歡樂的吉日，彼此餽送禮物。
9:20 末底改記錄這事，寫信與亞哈隨魯王各省遠近所有的猶大人，
9:21 囑咐他們每年守亞達月十四、十五兩日，
9:22 以這月的兩日為猶大人脫離仇敵得平安、轉憂為喜、轉悲為樂的吉日。在這兩日設筵歡樂，彼此餽送禮物，賙濟窮人。
9:23 於是，猶大人按著末底改所寫與他們的信，應承照初次所守的守為永例；
9:24 是因猶大人的仇敵亞甲族哈米大他的兒子哈曼設謀殺害猶大人，掣普珥，就是掣籤，為要殺盡滅絕他們；
9:25 這事報告於王，王便降旨使哈曼謀害猶大人的惡事歸到他自己的頭上，並吩咐把他和他的眾子都掛在木架上。
9:26 照著普珥的名字，猶大人就稱這兩日為「普珥日」。他們因這信上的話，又因所看見所遇見的事，
9:27 就應承自己與後裔，並歸附他們的人，每年按時必守這兩日，永遠不廢。
9:28 各省各城、家家戶戶、世世代代紀念遵守這兩日，使這「普珥日」在猶大人中不可廢掉，在他們後裔中也不可忘記。
9:29 亞比孩的女兒─王后以斯帖和猶大人末底改以全權寫第二封信，堅囑猶大人守這「普珥日」，
9:30 用和平誠實話寫信給亞哈隨魯王國中一百二十七省所有的猶大人，
9:31 勸他們按時守這「普珥日」，禁食呼求，是照猶大人末底改和王后以斯帖所囑咐的，也照猶大人為自己與後裔所應承的。
9:32 以斯帖命定守「普珥日」，這事也記錄在書上。

 

On the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar, the edict commanded by the king was to be carried out. On this day the enemies of the Jews had hoped to overpower them, but now the tables were turned and the Jews got the upper hand over those who hated them. ² The Jews assembled in their cities in all the provinces of King Xerxes to attack those determined to destroy them. No one could stand against them, because the people of all the other nationalities were afraid of them. ³ And all the nobles of the provinces, the satraps, the governors and the king’s administrators helped the Jews, because fear of Mordecai had seized them. ⁴ Mordecai was prominent in the palace; his reputation spread throughout the provinces, and he became more and more powerful.

⁵ The Jews struck down all their enemies with the sword, killing and destroying them, and they did what they pleased to those who hated them. ⁶ In the citadel of Susa, the Jews killed and destroyed five hundred men. ⁷ They also killed Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha, ⁸ Poratha, Adalia, Aridatha, ⁹ Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai and Vaizatha, ¹⁰ the ten sons of Haman son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews. But they did not lay their hands on the plunder.

¹¹ The number of those killed in the citadel of Susa was reported to the king that same day. ¹² The king said to Queen Esther, “The Jews have killed and destroyed five hundred men and the ten sons of Haman in the citadel of Susa. What have they done in the rest of the king’s provinces? Now what is your petition? It will be given you. What is your request? It will also be granted.”

¹³ “If it pleases the king,” Esther answered, “give the Jews in Susa permission to carry out this day’s edict tomorrow also, and let Haman’s ten sons be impaled on poles.”

¹⁴ So the king commanded that this be done. An edict was issued in Susa, and they impaled the ten sons of Haman. ¹⁵ The Jews in Susa came together on the fourteenth day of the month of Adar, and they put to death in Susa three hundred men, but they did not lay their hands on the plunder.

¹⁶ Meanwhile, the remainder of the Jews who were in the king’s provinces also assembled to protect themselves and get relief from their enemies. They killed seventy-five thousand of them but did not lay their hands on the plunder. ¹⁷ This happened on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar, and on the fourteenth they rested and made it a day of feasting and joy.

¹⁸ The Jews in Susa, however, had assembled on the thirteenth and fourteenth, and then on the fifteenth they rested and made it a day of feasting and joy.

¹⁹ That is why rural Jews—those living in villages—observe the fourteenth of the month of Adar as a day of joy and feasting, a day for giving presents to each other.

²⁰ Mordecai recorded these events, and he sent letters to all the Jews throughout the provinces of King Xerxes, near and far, ²¹ to have them celebrate annually the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month of Adar ²² as the time when the Jews got relief from their enemies, and as the month when their sorrow was turned into joy and their mourning into a day of celebration. He wrote them to observe the days as days of feasting and joy and giving presents of food to one another and gifts to the poor.

²³ So the Jews agreed to continue the celebration they had begun, doing what Mordecai had written to them. ²⁴ For Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had plotted against the Jews to destroy them and had cast the pur (that is, the lot) for their ruin and destruction. ²⁵ But when the plot came to the king’s attention,^[a] he issued written orders that the evil scheme Haman had devised against the Jews should come back onto his own head, and that he and his sons should be impaled on poles. ²⁶ (Therefore these days were called Purim, from the word pur.) Because of everything written in this letter and because of what they had seen and what had happened to them, ²⁷ the Jews took it on themselves to establish the custom that they and their descendants and all who join them should without fail observe these two days every year, in the way prescribed and at the time appointed. ²⁸ These days should be remembered and observed in every generation by every family, and in every province and in every city. And these days of Purim should never fail to be celebrated by the Jews—nor should the memory of these days die out among their descendants.

²⁹ So Queen Esther, daughter of Abihail, along with Mordecai the Jew, wrote with full authority to confirm this second letter concerning Purim. ³⁰ And Mordecai sent letters to all the Jews in the 127 provinces of Xerxes’ kingdom—words of goodwill and assurance— ³¹ to establish these days of Purim at their designated times, as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther had decreed for them, and as they had established for themselves and their descendants in regard to their times of fasting and lamentation. ³² Esther’s decree confirmed these regulations about Purim, and it was written down in the records.

 

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   「普珥日」本是以色列悲傷的日子，卻因為上帝的拯救，轉悲為喜的日子，成為猶太人紀念上帝拯救的日子！