Igitur duodecimi mensis, quem Adar vocari ante jam diximus, tertiadecima die, quando cunctis Judæis interfectio parabatur, et hostes eorum inhiabant sanguini, versa vice Judæi superiores esse cœperunt, et se de adversariis vindicare.

So Adar came, the last month of the year, and the thirteenth day of Adar. All preparations had been made, by blood-thirsty enemies, for a massacre of the Jews on that day, but instead, the Jews had the better of them, and could set about avenging themselves.

So on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which as we have said above is called Adar, when all the Jews were designed to be massacred, and their enemies were greedy after their blood, the case being altered, the Jews began to have the upper hand, and to revenge themselves of their adversaries.

Congregatique sunt per singulas civitates, oppida, et loca, ut extenderent manum contra inimicos, et persecutores suos. Nullusque ausus est resistere, eo quod omnes populos magnitudinis eorum formido penetrarat.

City by city, town by town, region by region they banded themselves together, ready to strike the first blow against the men that hated and persecuted them. None dared withstand them, so wide-spread the fear their rise to power had engendered;

And they gathered themselves together in every city, and town, and place, to lay their hands on their enemies, and their persecutors. And no one durst withstand them, for the fear of their power had gone through every people.

Nam et provinciarum judices, et duces, et procuratores, omnisque dignitas quæ singulis locis ac operibus præerat, extollebant Judæos timore Mardochæi,

judge and governor and chieftain, ruler and administrator everywhere had no praise too high for the Jewish people, for dread of Mardochaeus;

And the judges of the provinces, and the governors, and lieutenants, and every one in dignity, that presided over every place and work, extolled the Jews for fear of Mardochai:

quem principem esse palatii, et plurimum posse cognoverant: fama quoque nominis ejus crescebat quotidie, et per cunctorum ora volitabat.

did he not hold the first place at court, high in the royal favour? Every day his fame grew, and he was in all men’s mouths.

For they knew him to be prince of the palace, and to have great power: and the fame of his name increased daily, and was spread abroad through all men’s mouths.

Itaque percusserunt Judæi inimicos suos plaga magna, et occiderunt eos, reddentes eis quod sibi paraverant facere:

Great havoc the Jews wrought among their enemies that day, slaying the very men who had marked them down for slaughter;

So the Jews made a great slaughter of their enemies, and killed them, repaying according to what they had prepared to do to them:

in tantum ut etiam in Susan quingentos viros interficerent, extra decem filios Aman Agagitæ hostis Judæorum: quorum ista sunt nomina:

in Susan alone they put five hundred men to death, not counting the ten sons of Aman the Agagite. Ten sons he had,

Insomuch that even in Susan they killed five hundred men, besides the ten sons of Aman the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews: whose names are these:

Pharsandatha, et Delphon, et Esphatha,

Pharsandatha, Delphon, Esphatha,

Pharsandatha, and Delphon, and Esphatha,

et Phoratha, et Adalia, et Aridatha,

Phoratha, Adalia, Aridatha,

And Phoratha, and Adalia, and Aridatha,

et Phermesta, et Arisai, et Aridai, et Jezatha.

Phermestha, Arisai, Adirai and Jezatha;

And Phermesta, and Arisai, and Aridai, and Jezatha.

Quos cum occidissent, prædas de substantiis eorum tangere noluerunt.

all these they slew, and would take nothing of theirs for plunder.

And when they had slain them, they would not touch the spoils of their goods.

Statimque numerus eorum, qui occisi erant in Susan, ad regem relatus est.

And now, learning the number of those who had been killed at Susan,

And presently the number of them that were killed in Susan was brought to the king.

Qui dixit reginæ: In urbe Susan interfecerunt Judæi quingentos viros, et alios decem filios Aman: quantam putas eos exercere cædem in universis provinciis? quid ultra postulas, et quid vis ut fieri jubeam?

the king said to the queen, In Susan alone the Jews have slain five hundred men, and Aman’s ten sons besides; here is massacre indeed, if in all my dominions they have done the like. Tell me, what more wouldst thou have me do for thee?

And he said to the queen: The Jews have killed five hundred men in the city of Susan, besides the ten sons of Aman: how many dost thou think they have slain in all the provinces? What askest thou more, and what wilt thou have me to command to be done?

Cui illa respondit: Si regi placet, detur potestas Judæis, ut sicut fecerunt hodie in Susan, sic et cras faciant, et decem filii Aman in patibulis suspendantur.

Please it the king’s grace, she answered, let the Jews be free to continue this day’s work to-morrow; and let the bodies of Aman’s sons be hanged on gibbets.

And she answered: If it please the king, let it be granted to the Jews, to do to morrow in Susan as they have done to day, and that the ten sons of Aman may be hanged upon gibbets.

Præcepitque rex ut ita fieret. Statimque in Susan pependit edictum, et decem filii Aman suspensi sunt.

So the king gave orders as she asked. No sooner was the decree posted up, than gallows were made for the bodies of Aman’s sons;

And the king commanded that it should be so done. And forthwith the edict was hung up in Susan, and the ten sons of Aman were hanged.

Congregatis Judæis quartadecima die mensis Adar, interfecti sunt in Susan trecenti viri: nec eorum ab illis direpta substantia est.

and on the fourteenth day of Adar the Jews mustered afresh, killing three hundred citizens of Susan, but taking nothing of theirs for plunder.

And on the fourteenth day of the month Adar the Jews gathered themselves together, and they killed in Susan three hundred men: but they took not their substance.

Sed et per omnes provincias quæ ditioni regis subjacebant, pro animabus suis steterunt Judæi, interfectis hostibus ac persecutoribus suis: in tantum ut septuaginta quinque millia occisorum implerentur, et nullus de substantiis eorum quidquam contingeret.

All over the king’s dominions, the Jews fought for their lives, and put to death the enemies that persecuted them, till seventy-five thousand of them lay slain, and no plunder taken.

Moreover through all the provinces which were subject to the king’s dominion the Jews stood for their lives, and slew their enemies and persecutors: insomuch that the number of them that were killed amounted to seventy-five thousand, and no man took any of their goods.

Dies autem tertiusdecimus mensis Adar primus apud omnes interfectionis fuit, et quartadecima die cædere desierunt. Quem constituerunt esse solemnem, ut in eo omni tempore deinceps vacarent epulis, gaudio, atque conviviis.

Everywhere it was on the thirteenth of Adar they began laying about them, and next day they slew no more; so it was this day, the fourteenth, they made into a holiday, to be observed thenceforward with feast, and rejoicing, and carousal.

Now the thirteenth day of the month Adar was the first day with them all of the slaughter, and on the fourteenth day they left off. Which they ordained to be kept holy day, so that all times hereafter they should celebrate it with feasting, joy, and banquets.

At hi, qui in urbe Susan cædem exercuerant, tertiodecimo et quartodecimo die ejusdem mensis in cæde versati sunt: quintodecimo autem die percutere desierunt. Et idcirco eumdem diem constituerunt solemnem epularum atque lætitiæ.

In the city of Susan itself, the killing went on for two days; it was the fifteenth day, when their work was over, that they set apart for feasting and merry-making;

But they that were killing in the city of Susan, were employed in the slaughter on the thirteenth and fourteenth day of the same month: and on the fifteenth day they rested. And therefore they appointed that day to be a holy day of feasting and gladness.

Hi vero Judæi, qui in oppidis non muratis ac villis morabantur, quartumdecimum diem mensis Adar conviviorum et gaudii decreverunt, ita ut exultent in eo, et mittant sibi mutuo partes epularum et ciborum.

but in the unwalled towns and villages round about, carouse and rejoicing and the sharing out of dainties began on the fourteenth.

But those Jews that dwelt in towns not walled and in villages, appointed the fourteenth day of the month Adar for banquets and gladness, so as to rejoice on that day, and send one another portions of their banquets and meats.

Scripsit itaque Mardochæus omnia hæc, et litteris comprehensa misit ad Judæos qui in omnibus regis provinciis morabantur, tam in vicino positis, quam procul,

So Mardochaeus wrote to all the king’s Jewish subjects, near and far,

And Mardochai wrote all these things, and sent them comprised in letters to the Jews that abode in all the king’s provinces, both those that lay near and those afar off,

ut quartamdecimam et quintamdecimam diem mensis Adar pro festis susciperent, et revertente semper anno solemni celebrarent honore:

setting all this out and bidding them observe both the fourteenth and the fifteenth, year by year,

That they should receive the fourteenth and fifteenth day of the month Adar for holy days, and always at the return of the year should celebrate them with solemn honour:

quia in ipsis diebus se ulti sunt Judæi de inimicis suis, et luctus atque tristitia in hilaritatem gaudiumque conversa sunt, essentque dies isti epularum atque lætitiæ, et mitterent sibi invicem ciborum partes, et pauperibus munuscula largirentur.

as the days of Jewry’s vengeance, when weeping and lament gave place to mirth and gladness. There was to be feasting on both days, and on both days rejoicing; dainties should be exchanged, and gifts made to the poor.

Because on those days the Jews revenged themselves of their enemies, and their mourning and sorrow were turned into mirth and joy, and that these should be days of feasting and gladness, in which they should send one to another portions of meats, and should give gifts to the poor.

Susceperuntque Judæi in solemnem ritum cuncta quæ eo tempore facere cœperant, et quæ Mardochæus litteris facienda mandaverat.

So the will they then had and the orders Mardochaeus sent became a yearly rite;

And the Jews undertook to observe with solemnity all they had begun to do at that time, which Mardochai by letters had commanded to be done.

Aman enim, filius Amadathi stirpis Agag, hostis et adversarius Judæorum, cogitavit contra eos malum, ut occideret illos atque deleret: et misit phur, quod nostra lingua vertitur in sortem.

to recall how Amadathi’s son, Aman the Agagite, thought to vent his enmity against the Jews by murderously destroying them, and how he consulted Pur, the lot;

For Aman, the son of Amadathi of the race of Agag, the enemy and adversary of the Jews, had devised evil against them, to kill them and destroy them: and had cast Phur, that is, the lot.

Et postea ingressa est Esther ad regem, obsecrans ut conatus ejus litteris regis irriti fierent, et malum quod contra Judæos cogitaverat, reverteretur in caput ejus. Denique et ipsum et filios ejus affixerunt cruci,

how Esther sought audience with the king, praying for a royal decree that should thwart his design, and make his malice fall on his own head; and how Aman and his sons went to the gallows.

And afterwards Esther went in to the king, beseeching him that his endeavours might be made void by the king’s letters: and the evil that he had intended against the Jews, might return upon his own head. And so both he and his sons were hanged upon gibbets.

atque ex illo tempore dies isti appellati sunt phurim, id est sortium: eo quod phur, id est sors, in urnam missa fuerit. Et cuncta quæ gesta sunt, epistolæ, id est, libri hujus volumine, continentur:

This feast has ever been known as the feast of Purim, because of Aman’s lot-taking. Here in this letter, nay, this book you have been reading, the whole story has been set out, deeds done,

And since that time these days are called Phurim, that is, of lots: because Phur, that is, the lot, was cast into the urn. And all things that were done, are contained in the volume of this epistle, that is, of this book:

quæque sustinuerunt, et quæ deinceps immutata sunt, susceperunt Judæi super se et semen suum, et super cunctos qui religioni eorum voluerunt copulari, ut nulli liceat duos hos dies absque solemnitate transigere, quos scriptura testatur, et certa expetunt tempora, annis sibi jugiter succedentibus.

griefs borne, and strange vicissitudes. And the Jews pledged themselves and their children, with all who in after times should seek admission to their way of worship, to observe two days in each year, at the fixed time by this record determined.

And the things that they suffered, and that were afterwards changed, the Jews took upon themselves and their seed, and upon all that had a mind to be joined to their religion, so that it should be lawful for none to pass these days without solemnity: which the writing testifieth, and certain times require, as the years continually succeed one another.

Isti sunt dies, quos nulla umquam delebit oblivio, et per singulas generationes cunctæ in toto orbe provinciæ celebrabunt: nec est ulla civitas, in qua dies phurim, id est sortium, non observentur a Judæis, et ab eorum progenie, quæ his cæremoniis obligata est.

Never must the observance die out with the passing of years, where there are Jews living in any part of the world; in every city the feast of Lots must be kept by the Jews, and by all those on whom their ancestral customs are binding.

These are the days which shall never be forgot: and which all provinces in the whole world shall celebrate throughout all generations: neither is there any city wherein the days of Phurim, that is, of lots, must not be observed by the Jews, and by their posterity, which is bound to these ceremonies.

Scripseruntque Esther regina filia Abihail, et Mardochæus Judæus, etiam secundam epistolam, ut omni studio dies ista solemnis sanciretur in posterum:

There was a second letter written by queen Esther, Abihail’s daughter, and the Jew Mardochaeus, confirming this ordinance for ever;

And Esther the queen, the daughter of Abihail, and Mardochai the Jew, wrote also a second epistle, that with all diligence this day should be established a festival for the time to come.

et miserunt ad omnes Judæos qui in centum viginti septem provinciis regis Assueri versabantur, ut haberent pacem, et susciperent veritatem,

it went out to all the Jews in the hundred and twenty-seven provinces of Assuerus’ realm, wishing them health and assuring them that they had her warrant

And they sent to all the Jews that were in the hundred and twenty-seven provinces of king Assuerus, that they should have peace, and receive truth,

observantes dies sortium, et suo tempore cum gaudio celebrarent: sicut constituerant Mardochæus et Esther, et illi observanda susceperunt a se, et a semine suo, jejunia, et clamores, et sortium dies,

for keeping Purim feast with yearly rejoicing. And they, at the bidding of Mardochaeus and Esther, bound themselves and their children to keep it in mind; the fasting, and the cries for aid, the casting of the lots,

And observe the days of lots, and celebrate them with joy in their proper time: as Mardochai and Esther had appointed, and they undertook them to be observed by themselves and by their seed, fasts, and cries, and the days of lots,

et omnia quæ libri hujus, qui vocatur Esther, historia continentur.

and all else that is recorded in this book, the book of Esther.

And all things which are contained in the history of this book, which is called Esther.