And when he had given him permission, Paul stood on the stairs and motioned with his hand to the people. And when there was a great silence, he addressed them in the Hebrew  ¹dialect, saying,

 ¹Men, brothers and fathers, hear my  ²defense which I now make to you.

And when they heard that he addressed them in the Hebrew  ¹dialect, they became more quiet. And he said,

I am  ¹a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia but brought up in this city and trained at the feet of Gamaliel, according to the strictness of the law of our fathers, being zealous for God, even as you all are today.

And I persecuted this  ¹Way unto death, binding and delivering to prisons both men and women,

As also the high priest and all the  ¹assembly of the elders testify for me; from whom I also received letters to the brothers and went to Damascus to bring those also who were there bound to Jerusalem that they might be punished.

And as I journeyed and drew near to Damascus about midday, suddenly a great light flashed out of heaven around me;

And I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting  ¹Me?

And I answered, Who are You,  ¹Lord? And He said to me, I am Jesus the Nazarene, whom you persecute.

And those who were with me beheld the light, but did not  ¹hear the voice of the One who was speaking to me.

And I said, What shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said to me, Rise up and go into Damascus, and there it  ¹will be told to you concerning all the things which have been appointed to you to do.

And as I could  ¹not see because of the glory of that light, I was led by the hand by those who were with me and came into Damascus.

And a certain  ¹Ananias, a devout man according to the law, well attested to by all the Jews dwelling there,

Came to me, and standing by, said to me, Brother Saul,  ¹receive your sight! And in that very hour I looked up at him.

And he said, The God of our fathers has previously appointed you to know His will and to see the righteous One and to hear the voice from His mouth;

For you will be a witness to Him unto all men of the things which you have seen and heard.

And now, why do you delay? Rise up and  ¹be baptized and wash away your sins,  ²calling on  ³His name.

And when I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, I went into a  ¹trance;

And I saw Him saying to me, Hurry, and go quickly out of Jerusalem, because they will not accept your testimony concerning Me.

And I said, Lord, they know that I was imprisoning and beating from synagogue to synagogue those who believe on You;

And when the blood of Your witness Stephen was being shed, I myself also was standing by and approving and keeping the garments of those who did away with him.

And He said to me, Go, for I will send you forth far away to the Gentiles.

And they listened to him up to this word, and then they lifted up their voice, saying, Away from the earth with such a man, for it is not fitting for him to live!

And as they were crying out and casting off their garments and throwing dust in the air,

The  ¹commander ordered him to be brought into the barracks, saying that he should be examined by scourging in order that he might ascertain for what cause they were shouting against him so.

But as they stretched him out  ¹with the thongs, Paul  ²said to the centurion standing by, Is it lawful for you to scourge a man who is a Roman and uncondemned?

And when the centurion heard this, he went to the commander and reported, saying, What are you about to do? For this man is a Roman.

And the commander came and said to him, Tell me, are you a Roman? And he said, Yes.

And the commander answered, With a large sum of money I acquired this citizenship. And Paul said, But I was even born a Roman.

Immediately therefore those who were about to examine him withdrew from him; and the commander also was afraid, realizing that he was a Roman and that he had bound him.

And Esther spoke again before the king; and she fell down at his feet and wept and pleaded with him to overturn the evil plan of Haman the Agagite and his plot which he had plotted against the Jews.

Then the king held out the scepter of gold to Esther. So Esther arose and stood before the king.

And she said, If it please the king, and if I have found favor before him, and the thing seem right before the king, and I be pleasing in his eyes, let it be written to reverse the letters devised by Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, which he wrote in order to destroy the Jews who are in all the king's provinces.

For how can I bear to see the evil that will befall my people? Or how can I bear to see the destruction of my kindred?

Then King Ahasuerus said to Esther the queen and to Mordecai the Jew, I have now given Esther the house of Haman, and him have they hanged on the gallows because he stretched out his hand against the Jews.

Write also to the Jews, as it pleases you, in the king's name, and seal it with the king's signet ring; for a decree which has been written in the king's name and sealed with the king's signet ring cannot be reversed.

Then the king's scribes were called at that time, in the third month, which is the month Sivan, on the twenty-third day of the month. And it was decreed in writing, according to all that Mordecai commanded, to the Jews and to the satraps and governors and the princes of the provinces, which are from India to Ethiopia, one hundred twenty-seven provinces, to each province in its own script and to each people in their own language, and to the Jews in their own script and in their own language.

And he wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed it with the king's signet ring; and he sent letters by couriers on horseback, riding on swift steeds that were used in the king's service, bred of the royal stud,

In which letters the king allowed the Jews that were in every city to assemble and to stand for their life, to destroy, to slay, and to annihilate all the power of the people and province that might assault them, their little ones, and their women, and to plunder their spoil,

On one day in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar.

A copy of the written decree to be issued as law in every province was published to all the peoples so that the Jews would be ready for that day to avenge themselves on their enemies.

So the couriers, riding on swift steeds that were used in the king's service, went out, driven in haste by the king's command; and the decree was issued in Susa the capital.

And Mordecai went forth from the presence of the king in royal robes of blue and white, and with a large crown of gold, and with a garment of fine linen and purple; and the city of Susa shouted and rejoiced.

For the Jews there was light and joy, and gladness and honor.

And throughout every province and throughout every city, wherever the king's commandment and his decree came, there was for the Jews joy and gladness, a feast and a good day. And many from among the peoples of the land became Jews, for the fear of the Jews had fallen on them.

Now in the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, on the thirteenth day of the month, when the king's commandment and his decree were about to be executed, on the day that the Jews' enemies hoped to rule over them (but it turned out to the contrary, so that the Jews had rule over them that hated them),

The Jews assembled in their cities throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus to lay hand on those who sought their harm. And no one could withstand them, for the fear of them had fallen upon all the peoples.

And all the princes of the provinces and the satraps and the governors and those who did the king's business helped the Jews, because the fear of Mordecai had fallen upon them.

For Mordecai was great in the king's house, and his fame went forth throughout all the provinces; for the man Mordecai became greater and greater.

And the Jews struck all their enemies with the stroke of the sword and with slaughter and destruction, and they did as it pleased them to those who hated them.

And in Susa the capital the Jews slew and destroyed five hundred men.

And Parshandatha and Dalphon and Aspatha

And Poratha and Adalia and Aridatha

And Parmashta and Arisai and Aridai and Vaizatha,

The ten sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Jew's enemy, they slew; but they did not lay their hand on the spoil.

On that day the number of those who were slain in Susa the capital was brought before the king.

And the king said to Esther the queen, The Jews have slain and destroyed five hundred men in Susa the capital as well as the ten sons of Haman. What then have they done in the rest of the king's provinces! Now what is your petition? And it shall be granted to you. Or what is your further request? And it shall be done.

Then Esther said, If it please the king, let it be granted to the Jews who are in Susa to do tomorrow also according to this day's decree, and let Haman's ten sons be hanged upon the gallows.

And the king commanded it to be so done; and a decree was issued in Susa, and they hanged Haman's ten sons.

And the Jews who were in Susa assembled also on the fourteenth day of the month Adar and slew three hundred men in Susa, but they did not lay their hand on the spoil.

And the rest of the Jews who were in the king's provinces assembled and stood for their lives, and they had rest from their enemies. And they slew seventy-five thousand of those who hated them; but they did not lay their hand on the spoil.

This happened 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 rejoicing.

But the Jews who were in Susa assembled on the thirteenth day of the month and on the fourteenth of the month; and on the fifteenth day of the same they rested and made it a day of feasting and rejoicing.

Therefore the Jews of the villages, who dwell in towns in the open, make the fourteenth day of the month Adar a day of rejoicing and feasting, and a good day, and a day of sending portions to one another.

And Mordecai wrote these things down, and he sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far,

Enjoining them that they should keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar and the fifteenth day of the same, year by year,

As the days on which the Jews had rest from their enemies, and as the month which was turned for them from sorrow to rejoicing and from mourning into a good day; that they should make them days of feasting and rejoicing, and of sending portions to one another and gifts to the poor.

And the Jews undertook what they had begun to do and what Mordecai had written to them to do.

For Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had plotted against the Jews to destroy them and had cast Pur, that is, the lot, to vex them and destroy them;

But when  ¹Esther came before the king, he commanded by letter that his wicked plot, which he had plotted against the Jews, should return upon his own head and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows.

Therefore they called these days Purim, after the name of Pur. Therefore because of all the words of this letter and what they had seen in this regard and what had happened to them,

The Jews established and made a custom for themselves and their seed and all who joined themselves to them, that they would not fail to keep these two days according to what has been written about them and according to the appointed time for them, year by year;

And that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, every family, every province, and every city; and that these days of Purim should not fail from among the Jews, nor the remembrance of them fade from their seed.

Then Esther the queen, the daughter of Abihail, and Mordecai the Jew wrote with all authority to confirm this second letter of Purim.

And he sent letters to all the Jews, to the one hundred twenty-seven provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, that is, words of peace and truth,

Establishing these days of Purim at their appointed times, as Mordecai the Jew and Esther the queen had established for them and as they had established for themselves and for their seed in the matter of the fastings and their cry.

And the commandment of Esther confirmed these matters of Purim; and it was written in the book.

Now King Ahasuerus laid a tribute on the land and on the coastlands of the sea.

And all the acts of his power and of his might, and the full account of the greatness of Mordecai, to which the king advanced him, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Media and Persia?

For Mordecai the Jew was second to King Ahasuerus and great among the Jews and well-regarded by the multitude of his brothers, one who sought the good of his people and who spoke for the welfare of all his seed.