14 Enjoy yourselves at this festival—you, your sons, your daughters, all your servants, and the Levites, [106] foreigners, orphans, [107] and widows [108] living in your towns.
14 and thou shalt rejoice in thy feast, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite, the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are within thy gates.
14 You shall rejoice in your Feast, you, your son and daughter, your manservant and maidservant, the Levite, the transient and the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow who are within your towns.
14 and thou shalt rejoice in thy feast, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy man-servant, and thy maid-servant, and the Levite, and the sojourner, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are within thy gates.
14 Celebrate your festival: you, your sons, your daughters, your male and female servants, the Levites, the immigrants, the orphans, and the widows who live in your cities.
14 And you shall feast at the time of your festival: you, your son and daughter, your man servant and woman servant, likewise the Levite and the new arrival, the orphan and the widow, who are within your gates.
Go to the place the Lord will choose to be his special house. You and your people should enjoy yourselves together there with the Lord your God. Take all your people with you—your sons, your daughters, and all your servants. Also, take the Levites, [101] foreigners, orphans, [102] and widows [103] living in your towns.
God will make his people free! And those people will come back to him. The people will be happy when they come into Zion. {\cf2\super [333]} The people will be happy forever. Their happiness will be like a crown on their heads. Their gladness and joy will fill them completely. Sorrow and sadness will be gone far, far away.
\{At that time, you will sing happy songs. That time\} will be like the nights when you begin a holiday. You are very happy while walking to the Lord’s mountain. You are happy while listening to the flute on the way to worship \{the Lord,\} the Rock {\cf2\super [284]} of Israel.
Then you must {have a meal together and} enjoy all the good things that the Lord your God has given to you and your family. You must share those things with the Levites [160] and the foreigners living among you.
Come to that place with all your people—your children, all your servants, and the Levites [76] living in your towns. (These Levites will not have a share of the land for their own.) Enjoy yourselves together there with the Lord your God.
This food is for the Levites, [94] because they don’t have any land of their own. This food is also for other people in your towns that need it. That food is for foreigners, widows, and children that have no parents. If you do this, then the Lord your God will bless you in everything you do.
Celebrate this festival for seven days at the special place the Lord will choose. Do this to honor the Lord your God. The Lord your God blessed your harvest and all the work you did. So be very happy!
The Jews were to celebrate those days because on those days the Jews got rid of their enemies. And they were also to celebrate that month as the month when their sadness was turned into joy. And it was a month when their crying was changed into a day of celebration. Mordecai wrote letters to all the Jews. He told them to celebrate those days as a happy holiday. They should have parties and give gifts to each other and give presents to poor people.