21 He made it a rule that Jews keep the fourteenth and fifteenth days of Adar as special days each and every year.
22 They are the days on which the Jews found rest from their enemies. The whole of Adar, the month in which sadness was turned into joy and mournful weeping into a holiday, was to be celebrated as a special time for weddings, for parties, and for sending gifts of food to friends and to the poor.
23 The Jews accepted what Mordecai had written to them—
24 how Haman, Hammedatha’s son, the Macedonian, declared war on the Jews, how he made an edict and cast lots to destroy them,
25 and how he went to the king to have Mordecai impaled. But whatever evils Haman tried to bring upon the Jews turned back on him instead, and he and his sons ended up impaled.
26 This is why people call these days Purim—on account of the lots, which are called purim in the Hebrew language. Mordecai established the festival on the basis of the contents of this letter, on the basis of what the Jews suffered because of all these events, and on the basis of how it all turned out for them.
27 The Jews took it upon themselves, their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, as well as all non-Jews who become Jews, to celebrate these two days and never do otherwise. These days are a commemoration to be observed generation after generation in every city, land, and region.