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001 That night, as the emperor didn't manange to get to sleep, he had them bring him the book of the Annals relating the past events and they read it out before him.

002 They happened to tell how Mordecai had warned that Bigthan and Teresh, the emperor's two eunuchs who were part of the guard posted at the entrance of the palace, were plotting to lay a hand on Emperor Xerxes.

003 The emperor asked : how did we honour Mordecai and what distiction did we grant to him for this? The servants who were in service near him answered : We did nothing for him.

004 The emperor asked then : Who's in the courtyard? It was exactly Haman that was coming into the outer courtyard of the imperial palace, to ask the emperor to let them hang Mordecai on the gallows that he had had prepared for him.

005 The servants said to the emperor : It's Haman who is standing in the courtyard. Let him come in!, the emperor ordered.

006 Haman came in and the emperor asked him : What should be done for a man who the emperor desires to honour? In his heart of hearts, Haman said to himself : What man could the emperor desire to honour, except me?

007 So he answered the emperor : For a man who the emperor desires to honour,

008 let them bring the emperor's coat that the emperor has already worn, let them bring one of the horses that the emperor has ridden, and let them put down an imperial diadem on the horse's head.

009 Let them entrust the coat along with the horse to one of the emperor's ministers, one of the high-ranking dignitaries, and let them dresse the man who the emperor desires to honour in the coat, then let them have him mounted on the horse and let them lead him that way to the square of the city proclaiming ahead of him : 'That's what the emperor does for the man who he desires to honour!'

010 Then the emperor said to Haman : Hurry and go and get the coat and the horse, as you said, and do all of that for Mordecai the Jew, who performs duties at the palace! Don't omit any of what you proposed!

011 Haman went and got the coat and the horse, he dressed Mordecai in the coat, then he had him mounted on the horse and lead him that way to the grand square of the city, proclaming ahead of him : That's what the emperor does for the man who he desires to honour!

012 Afterwards, whereas Mordecai was returning to his duties at the imperial palace, Haman came back home hurriedly as in morning and covering his face.

013 He told Zeresh his wife and all his friends what had just happened to him. His advisors and wife said to him :  If this Mordecai before which you started to be humiliated is a Jew, you won't be able to do anything against him. You can be certain that you'll continue to lower yourself before him.

014 They were still having a conversation with him when the emperor's envoys broke on the scene, which had come to have Haman pressed to wend to the feast prepared by Esther.

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001 So the emperor and Haman arrived there to feast with Empress Esther.

002 That second day, while they were drinking wine, the emperor asked Esther again : Tell me what your petition is, Empress Esther! It will be granted to you. What is you request? Even it's half my empire, you'll obtain it.

003 Empress Esther answered: If the emperor wants to grant me a favour, if the emperor wants to, let my life be granted to me, that is my petition. Let my people's life also be granted to my people, such is my request.

004 Indeed, both I and my people have been delivered to be massacred, killed and exterminated. If we had only been sold as slaves and handmaids, I'd have kept silence ; for, in that case, our misfortune wouldn't be worth bothering the emperor.

005 Then Emperor Xerxes asked Empress Esther : Who is the one who had the audacity to conceive such an intention? Where is he?

006 Esther answered : The persecutor, the enemy, is Haman, this miserable one! Then Haman were frightened, before the emperor and the empress.

007 Being furious, the emperor left his wine, got up and go out into the garden of the palace. Haman, seeing well that in the emperor's mind his misfortune was being decided, stayed there to implore Empress Esther for his life.

008 The emperor came back from the garden to the banquet hall at the moment when Haman was falling down on the divan where Esther was lying. Hence, the emperor exclaimed : Moreover, does he want to do violence to the empress in my presence in my palace? No sooner had he uttered these words than they covered Haman's head.

009 Harbona, one of the eunuchs, said before the emperor then : there's a gallows, which is exactly the one that Haman has had made for Mordecai, which spoke for the emperor's good. It is in Haman's courtyard and twenty-five meter high. The emperor ordered : let them hang him on it!

010 So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the emperor's anger subsided.

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001 That same day, Emperor Xerxes made a gift of all the goods of Haman, the prosecuter of the Jews, to Empress Esther, and Mordecai was shown into the presence of the Emperor, for Esther had revealed what his relationship to her was.

002 Then the emperor took off the ring that he had taken back from Haman from his finger and he gave it to Mordecai. Esther charged him with managing Haman's goods.

003 Then Esther spoke to the emperor again. She threw herself at his feet, and begged him crying to reduce the evil organised by Haman of Agag to naught, and the plans that he had formed against the Jews too.

004 The emperor extended the golden sceptre to Esther. Then she got back up and stood up before him.

005 If the emperor wants to, she said, and if truly I've obtained his favour, if my request appears seemly to him and if he finds pleasure in me, please let him revoke, in writing, the letters conceived by Haman, son of Hammedata the Agagite, and which he had written out with the aim of slaying the Jews who live in all the provinces of the empire.

006 Indeed, how could I bear to see the misfortune descend upon my people? Yeah, how could I bear seeing the disappearance of my race?

007 Emperor Xerxes answered Empress Esther and Mordecai the Jew : As far as I'm concerned I already gave Esther Haman's goods, and him?, I had him hanged because he wanted to lay a hand on the Jews.

008 You, now, write out letters concerning the Jews, as you see fit to. Write them in the name of the emperor and seal them with the imperial seal. Indeed, a document written out in the name of the emperor and sealed with his seal is irrevocable.

009 They convened the imperial secretaries at once, on the twenty-third day of the third month, i.e. the month of Sivan. They wrote to the Jews, the satraps, the governors and the ministers of the one hundred twenty-seven provinces that stretched from India to Ethiopia, as all that Mordecai ordered. They wrote out the letters with the script of each province and according to the language of each people. Likewise, they wrote to the Jews with their script and in their language.

010 The letter were written in the name of Emperor Xerxes and sealed with his seal, and they dispatched them through runners mounted on thoroughbreds selected from the imperial administration.

011 Through this edict, the emperor was authorising the Jews of each city to group together to defend their life, to massacre, kill and exterminate any armed gang from a people or a province that would attack them, including their children and women, and to pillage these people's goods.

012 This authorisation was valid for one day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month that is the month of Adar, in all the provinces of Emperor Xerxes.

013 A copy of the text of the letter was to be promulgated as having the force of law in each province, and brought to the notice of its populatation, in order that the Jews might stand ready to revenge themselves on their enemies on that day.

014 The runners mounted on the thoroughbreds from the imperial administration departed hell for leather, by order of the emperor, while the edict was being published immediately in the citadel of Susa.

015 Mordecai went out of the emperor's place, dressed in an violet and white imperial outfit, and wearing a big golden crown and a byssus coat dyed with purple. The whole city of Susa was ringing with shouts of joy and rejoicing.

016 For the Jews, it was a day of light, a day of happiness, joy and glory.

017 In every province, in every city, and in any place where the emperor's order and edict reached, it was, for the Jews, happiness and joy, along with a chance of feast and celebration. A large number of people of the country became Jews, because the Jews inspired them with so much fear.

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001 It was the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, i.e. the month of Adar. It was the day when the imperial decree should be applied. On this day, the enemies of the Jews had hoped to take control of them, but the situation was turned on its head : it was the Jews who took control of their enemies.

002 In the cities of all the provinces of Emperor Xerxes where they lived, they grouped together to attack those who wished them harm. No-one could resist them, because the fear that they inspired had taken hold of everyone so much.

003 All the ministers of the provinces, the satraps, the governors and the imperial officials supported the Jews for fear of Mordecai.

004 Indeed, Mordecai occupied a high rank at the imperial palaces, and his renown had spread in all the provinces, for he became more and more powerful.

005 Thus, the Jews struck all their enemies with their sword, they killed them and exterminated them, or treated them as they thought fit to.

006 In the single citadel of Susa, the Jews killed and slew five hundred men,

007 along with Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha,

008 Poratha, Adalia, Aridatha,

009 Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai and Vaizatha,

010 the ten sons of Haman, son of Hammedatha, the persecuter of the Jews. But people abstained from any pillage.

011 The same day, the emperor were informed of the number of the victims in the citadel of Susa.

012 He said to Empress Esther : In the single citadel of Susa, the Jews have killed and slayn five hundred men along with Haman's ten sons. What have they had to do in the other provinces of the Empire! Nevertheless, if you have another petition to formulate, it will be granted to you. What is your request? You'll obtain it.

013 Esther answered : If the emperor wants to, let him grant the Jews of Susa the permission to act tomorrow like today, and let them hang the bodies of Haman's ten sons on the gallows.

014 The emperor gave the order to do so. A new decree were promulgated in Susa, and Haman's ten sons were hanged.

015 So the Jews of Susa assembled another time on the fourteenth day of the month of Adar and killed three hundred men, but without pillaging their goods.

016 The other Jews disseminated in the provinces of the empire also reunited to defend their life and guarantee their tranquillity from their enemies,

017 and on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar, they killed seventy-five thousand of their enemies, but without pillaging their goods. On the fourteenth day of the month, they ceased all massacre and made the day a day of feast and rejoicings.

018 By contrast the Jews of Susa who had grouped together on the thirteenth and fourteenth day rested on the fifteenth, and it was that day that they made feasts and carried out rejoicings.

019 That's what explains why the Jews disseminated in the countryside and the ones who live in localities of the countryside make the fourteenth day of the month of Adar a feast day, of rejoicings and feasting, and send each other presents that day.

020 Mordecai recorded the tale of all these events in writing, then he sent letters to all the Jews of all the provinces of Emperor Xerxes, nearby and far away.

021 He asked them to celebrate a party on the fourteenth and the fifteenth day of the month of Adar every year,

022 since on these days, the Jews had secured the tranquillity from their enemies and in this month, their affliction had been changed into joy and their mourning into celebration. He suggested they commemorate those days through feasts and rejoicings, and through mutual exchanges of presents and donations to the poor.

023 The Jews followed Mordecai's directions and made this holiday, that they had just celebrated, a tradition to respect every year.

024 For Haman, son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the persecuter of all the Jews, had resolved to exterminate them. He had cast Pur which means 'lots' in Persian with a view to ruining them and exterminiating them.

025 But Esther had gone and seen the emperor who had ordered in writing to make the nasty plans that he had formed against the Jews fall back on him and hang him, him and his sons, at the gallows.

026 This is why they called these days Purim after the Persian word that means 'lots'. According to the instructions of Mordecai's letter and because of the events whose witnesses the Jews had been themselves and that they had undergone,

027 they instituted the tradition for them, for their descendants and for those who would join them, according to which they shouldn't omit to celebrate these two days on the fixed date each year and in the manner prescribed by Mordecai.

028 Thus the memory of these days is perpetuated from generation to generation in each family, in each province and each city, through this celebration. The Jews mustn't cease to celebrate these days of Purim and their memory mustn't die out at the place of their descendants.

029 Empress Esther, daughter of Abihail, wrote using her whole authority with Mordecai the Jew to confirm this second letter regarding Purim.

030 They sent letters containing vows for true peace to all the Jews of the one hundred twenty-seven provinces of Xerxes's empire.

031 They were confirming the institution of these days of Purim on the fixed date, ones such as Mordecai the Jew and Empress Esther had instituted, and ones such as the Jews had instituted themselves for themselves and for their descendants, with fasts and supplications.

032 Esther's order instituted the ritual of this holiday of Purim, and it was recorded in a book.

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001 In the following time, Emperor Xerxes imposed a tribute on his entire empire including the coastal territories.

002 All his acts demonstrating his power and valiance, including the way he elevated Mordecai to an important rank, are recorded in the book of the Annals of the emperors of Medians and Persians.

003 Mordecai the Jew, indeed, occupied the second rank, after Emperor Xerxes. He was respected a lot by the Jews and loved by all his compatriots, because he worked towards the good of his people and laboured for the peace of his whole race.