Esther 9: Victory of the Jews – Clear & Engaging Audio Bible Reading | Esther’s Courage, Mordecai’s Leadership, and God’s Deliverance

Experience the compelling events of Esther 9 with this clear and engaging audio recording. Follow the story of Esther’s courage to stand up for her people, Mordecai’s leadership in guiding the Jews, and God’s deliverance of His chosen ones from their enemies. Perfect for study, reflection or meditation, immerse yourself in this powerful chapter and let the Scriptures come alive.

ESTHER 9 (NIV)

1 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, 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.