In the first month, which is the month Nisan, in the twelfth year of king Ahasuerus, they cast Pur, that is, the lot, before Haman from day to day, and from month to month, [to] the twelfth [month], which is the month Adar.
Therefore the Jews of the villages, who dwell in the unwalled towns, make the fourteenth day of the month Adar [a day of] gladness and feasting, and a good day, and of sending portions one to another.
[This was done] on the thirteenth day of the month Adar. And on the fourteenth day of the same they rested, and made it a day of feasting and gladness.
And the Jews who were in Shushan gathered themselves together on the fourteenth day also of the month Adar, and killed three hundred men in Shushan, but they did not lay their hand on the spoil.
Now in the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, on the thirteenth day of the same, when the king's commandment and his decree drew near to be put in execution on the day that the enemies of the Jews hoped to have rule over them
And letters were sent by posts into all the king's provinces, to destroy, to kill, and to cause to perish, all Jews, both young and old, little sons and women, in one day, even upon the thirteenth [day] of the twelfth month, which
And Solomon offered for the sacrifice of peace-offerings, which he offered to LORD, twenty-two thousand oxen, and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the sons of Israel dedicated the house of LORD.
Then the same Sheshbazzar came, and laid the foundations of the house of God which is in Jerusalem. And since that time even until now it has been in building, and yet it is not completed.
Therefore thus says LORD: I have returned to Jerusalem with mercies. My house shall be built in it, says LORD of hosts, and a line shall be stretched forth over Jerusalem.
The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house. His hands shall also finish it. And thou shall know that LORD of hosts has sent me to you.
For we are bondmen, yet our God has not forsaken us in our bondage, but has extended loving kindness to us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us a reviving, to set up the house of our God, and to repair the ruins of it, a