prevent the evil that Haman had planned against the
Jews. The king held out to her the golden sceptre, and she arose and
stood before him. Then King Xerxes said to Queen Esther and to Mordecai,
the Jew, "Write in behalf of the Jews, as seems best to you, in the
king's name and seal it with the king's ring; for what is written in the
king's name and sealed with the king's ring no one may disobey."

So Mordecai wrote in the name of King Xerxes and sealed it with the
king's ring. And he sent by messengers, who rode the king's swift
horses, mules, and camels, the king's command that the Jews who were in
every city should gather together and protect their lives.

The command had also been given out in the royal palace at Susa; and
Mordecai had gone out from the presence of the king in royal garments of
violet and white and with a great crown of gold and with a robe of fine
linen and purple. The people of Susa shouted and were glad. To the Jews
there came light and gladness and joy and honor. And in every country
and city, where the king's command came, there was gladness and joy
among the Jews, and a holiday.

On the fourteenth day of the month Adar, the Jews rested and made it a
day of feasting and rejoicing. Therefore the Jews who live in the
country villages keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar as a day of
rejoicing and feasting and a holiday, and as a day on which they send
gifts to one another. But the Jews in Susa rested on the fifteenth day
of the same month and made it a day of feasting and rejoicing.

The Jews made it a custom for them, and for their children, and for all
who should join them, so that it might not be changed, that they should
observe these two days as feasts each year. For Haman had plotted to
destroy the Jews completely, and he cast pur, that is, the lot, to
destroy them. For this reason these days are called Purim.

REBUILDING THE TEMPLE

That the promise made by Jehovah through the mouth of Jeremiah might be
fulfilled, Jehovah influenced Cyrus, king of Persia, in the first year
of his reign to make this written law throughout all his kingdom, "Thus
commands Cyrus, king of Persia: 'Jehovah, the God of heaven, has given
me all the kingdoms of the earth and has charged me to build him a
temple in Jerusalem in Judah. Whoever among you of all his people wishes
to return, may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, in
Judah, and rebuild the temple of Jehovah, the God of Israel