20 Mordecai escreveu estas coisas, e enviou cartas a todos os judeus que se achavam em todas as províncias do rei Assuero, aos de perto e aos de longe,

21 ordenando-lhes que guardassem o dia catorze do mês de adar e o dia quinze do mesmo, todos os anos,

22 como os dias em que os judeus tiveram repouso dos seus inimigos, e o mês em que se lhes mudou a tristeza em alegria, e o pranto em dia de festa, a fim de que os fizessem dias de banquetes e de alegria, e de mandarem porções escolhidas uns aos outros, e dádivas aos pobres.

23 E os judeus se comprometeram a fazer como já tinham começado, e como Mordecai lhes tinha escrito;

24 porque Hamã, filho de Hamedata, o agagita, o inimigo de todos os judeus, tinha intentado destruir os judeus, e tinha lançado Pur, isto é, a sorte, para os assolar e destruir;

25 mas quando isto veio perante o rei, ordenou ele por cartas que o mau intento que Hamã formara contra os judeus recaísse sobre a sua cabeça, e que ele e seus filhos fossem pendurados na forca.

26 Por isso aqueles dias se chamaram Purim, segundo o nome Pur. portanto, por causa de todas as palavras daquela carta, e do que tinham testemunhado nesse sentido, e do que lhes havia sucedido,

27 os judeus concordaram e se comprometeram por si, sua descendência, e por todos os que haviam de unir-se com eles, a não deixarem de guardar estes dois dias, conforme o que se escreveras a respeito deles, e segundo o seu tempo determinado, todos os anos;

28 e a fazerem com que esses dias fossem lembrados e guardados por toda geração, família, província e cidade; e que esses dias de Purim não fossem revogados entre os judeus, e que a memória deles nunca perecesse dentre a sua descendência.

29 Então a rainha Ester, filha de Abiail, e o judeu Mordecai escreveram cartas com toda a autoridade para confirmar esta segunda carta a respeito de Purim,

30 e enviaram-nas a todos os judeus, às cento e vinte e sete províncias do reino de Assuero, com palavras de paz e de verdade,

31 para confirmar esses dias de Purim nos seus tempos determinados, como o judeu Mordecai e a rainha Ester lhes tinham ordenado, e como eles se haviam obrigado por si e pela sua descendência no tocante a seus jejuns e suas lamentações.

32 A ordem de Ester confirmou o que dizia respeito ao Purim; e foi isso registrado nos anais.

20 And Mordecai sent letters to all the Jews in every division of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, near and far,

21 Ordering them to keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar and the fifteenth day of the same month, every year,

22 As days on which the Jews had rest from their haters, and the month which for them was turned from sorrow to joy, and from weeping to a good day: and that they were to keep them as days of feasting and joy, of sending offerings to one another and good things to the poor.

23 And the Jews gave their word to go on as they had been doing and as Mordecai had given them orders in writing;

24 Because Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the hater of all the Jews, had made designs for their destruction, attempting to get a decision by Pur (that is, chance) with a view to putting an end to them and cutting them off;

25 But when the business was put before the king, he gave orders by letters that the evil design which he had made against the Jews was to be turned against himself; and that he and his sons were to be put to death by hanging.

26 So these days were named Purim, after the name of Pur. And so, because of the words of this letter, and of what they had seen in connection with this business, and what had come to them,

27 The Jews made a rule and gave an undertaking, causing their seed and all those who were joined to them to do the same, so that it might be in force for ever, that they would keep those two days, as ordered in the letter, at the fixed time every year;

28 And that those days were to be kept in memory through every generation and every family, in every division of the kingdom and every town, that there might never be a time when these days of Purim would not be kept among the Jews, or when the memory of them would go from the minds of their seed.

29 Then Esther the queen, daughter of Abihail, and Mordecai the Jew, sent a second letter giving the force of their authority to the order about the Purim.

30 And he sent letters to all the Jews in the hundred and twenty-seven divisions of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, with true words of peace,

31 Giving the force of law to these days of Purim at their fixed times, as they had been ordered by Mordecai the Jew and Esther the queen, and in keeping with the rules they had made for themselves and their seed, in connection with their time of going without food and their cry for help.

32 The order given by Esther gave the force of law to the rules about the Purim; and it was recorded in the book.