Bible Strands
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.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Mordecai writes to the Jewish community to formalize the annual observance of Purim, designating the fourteenth and fifteenth days of Adar as fixed holidays following their military deliverance.
The words — The text highlights נָחוּ (na.chu), meaning "they had rest," and נֶהְפַּךְ (neh.pakh), meaning "it was changed," to mark the literal transition from conflict to celebration.
The thread — This structural reversal appears in Psalms 30:11, where mourning turns to dancing, and aligns with the localized observance in Esther 9:19 and the anger-to-praise movement in Isaiah 12:1.
Why it lands — The passage commands readers to institutionalize gratitude through prescribed feasting, mutual gift exchange, and financial support for the poor, treating historical deliverance as a recurring communal obligation.
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
As the days wherein the Jews rested from their enemies, and the month which was turned unto them from sorrow to joy, and from mourning into a good day: that they should make them days of feasting and joy, and of sending portions one to another, and gifts to the poor.
Cross-references
- Psalms 30:11 You turned my mourning into dancing; You peeled off my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,
- 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.
- Isaiah 12:1 In that day you will say: “O LORD, I will praise You. Although You were angry with me, Your anger has turned away, and You have comforted me.
- Isaiah 14:3 On the day that the LORD gives you rest from your pain and torment, and from the hard labor into which you were forced,
- 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.
- Galatians 2:10 They only asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.
- Exodus 13:3 So Moses told the people, “Remember this day, the day you came out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; for the LORD brought you out of it by the strength of His hand. And nothing leavened shall be eaten.
- 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.”
- Psalms 103:2 Bless the LORD, O my soul, and do not forget all His kind deeds—
- Matthew 5:4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.