Esther 9:19

This is why the rural Jews, who live in the villages, observe the fourteenth day of the month of Adar as a day of joy and feasting. It is a holiday for sending gifts to one another.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — The narrator explains the distinction between Jewish celebrations in walled cities and villages immediately after describing the Jews in Susa resting on the fifteenth of Adar. This statement follows the establishment of the festival and precedes Mordecai’s written record of the events.

The words — The noun פְּרָזִים (perazim) literally means rural villagers or those dwelling in open, unwalled regions. The verb עֹשִׂים (osim) indicates they are making or observing the fourteenth day of Adar as a designated time of joy.

The thread — The command to distribute portions to others appears in Nehemiah 8:10, where leaders instruct the people to send food to those without provisions. The pattern of communal rejoicing during appointed feasts aligns with Deuteronomy 16:14.

Why it lands — The text states that rural Jews observe the fourteenth of Adar for feasting and gift-giving, establishing a geographic distinction in festival practice. It requires readers to acknowledge that religious observance adapts to settlement structure while maintaining the requirement to share celebration with neighbors.

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

Therefore the Jews of the villages, that dwelt in the unwalled towns, made the fourteenth day of the month Adar a day of gladness and feasting, and a good day, and of sending portions one to another.

Cross-references

Esther 8:17 In every province and every city, wherever the king’s edict and decree reached, there was joy and gladness among the Jews, with feasting and celebrating. And many of the people of the land themselves became Jews, because the fear of the Jews had fallen upon them.
Deuteronomy 16:14 And you shall rejoice in your feast—you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levite, as well as the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widows among you.
Nehemiah 8:10 Then Nehemiah told them, “Go and eat what is rich, drink what is sweet, and send out portions to those who have nothing prepared, since today is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”
Esther 9:22 as the days on which the Jews gained rest from their enemies and the month in which their sorrow turned to joy and their mourning into a holiday. He wrote that these were to be days of feasting and joy, of sending gifts to one another and to the poor.
Revelation 11:10 And those who dwell on the earth will gloat over them and celebrate and send one another gifts, because these two prophets had tormented them.
Deuteronomy 16:11 and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God in the place He will choose as a dwelling for His Name—you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levite within your gates, as well as the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widows among you.
Deuteronomy 3:5 All these cities were fortified with high walls and gates and bars, and there were many more unwalled villages.
Psalms 118:11 They surrounded me on every side, but in the name of the LORD I cut them off.
Zechariah 2:4 and said to him, “Run and tell that young man: ‘Jerusalem will be a city without walls because of the multitude of men and livestock within it.
Luke 11:41 But give as alms the things that are within you, and behold, everything will be clean for you.