Bible Strands
Esther 9:17
This was done on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar, and on the fourteenth day they rested, making it a day of feasting and joy.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator records the conclusion of the Jews' defensive campaign in the royal provinces, specifying the exact dates when combat ceased and celebration began. This follows the immediate aftermath of the 75,000 slain enemies described in Esther 9:16.
The words — וְ/נ֗וֹחַ (ve./No.ach) literally means "and they rested," denoting the end of military action. The phrase בְּ/אַרְבָּעָ֤ה עָשָׂר (be./'ar.ba.'Ah 'a.Sar) pinpoints the fourteenth day of Adar as the appointed day of feasting.
The thread — The chronological markers tie this event to the execution of the royal edict in Esther 9:1 and the later establishment of the annual festival in Esther 9:21. The thirteenth day of Adar reappears in Esther 3:12 as the date Haman's original death decree was drafted.
Why it lands — The verse states a factual transition from warfare to rest, fixing the fourteenth of Adar as a day of feasting and joy. It requires the reader to recognize how a specific calendar date becomes the structural anchor for communal observance.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
On the thirteenth day of the month Adar; and on the fourteenth day of the same rested they, and made it a day of feasting and gladness.
Cross-references
- Esther 9:1 On the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar, the king’s command and edict were to be executed. On this day the enemies of the Jews had hoped to overpower them, but their plan was overturned and the Jews overpowered those who hated them.
- Esther 9:21 to establish among them an annual celebration on the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month of Adar
- Esther 3:12 On the thirteenth day of the first month, the royal scribes were summoned and the order was written exactly as Haman commanded the royal satraps, the governors of each province, and the officials of each people, in the script of each province and the language of every people. It was written in the name of King Xerxes and sealed with the royal signet ring.
- Esther 8:9 At once the royal scribes were summoned, and on the twenty-third day of the third month (the month of Sivan), they recorded all of Mordecai’s orders to the Jews and to the satraps, governors, and princes of the 127 provinces from India to Cush—writing to each province in its own script, to every people in their own language, and to the Jews in their own script and language.
- Esther 9:18 The Jews in Susa, however, had assembled on the thirteenth and the fourteenth days of the month. So they rested on the fifteenth day, making it a day of feasting and joy.