Mordecai recorded these things in a book, and sent it to the Jews in the kingdom of Artaxerxes both near and far, telling them that they should keep the fourteenth and fifteenth days of Adar, for on these days the Jews got relief from their enemies. The whole month (namely, Adar), in which their condition had been changed from sorrow into gladness and from a time of distress to a holiday, was to be celebrated as a time for feasting and gladness and for sending presents of food to their friends and to the poor.
So the Jews accepted what Mordecai had written to them —how Haman son of Hammedatha, the Macedonian, fought against them, how he made a decree and cast lots to destroy them, and how he went in to the king, telling him to hang Mordecai; but the wicked plot he had devised against the Jews came back upon himself, and he and his sons were hanged.
Therefore these days were called "Purim," because of the lots (for in their language this is the word that means "lots"). And so, because of what was written in this letter, and because of what they had experienced in this affair and what had befallen them, Mordecai established this festival, and the Jews took upon themselves, upon their descendants, and upon all who would join them, to observe it without fail. These days of Purim should be a memorial and kept from generation to generation, in every city, family, and country.
These days of Purim were to be observed for all time, and the commemoration of them was never to cease among their descendants.
Then Queen Esther daughter of Aminadab along with Mordecai the Jew wrote down what they had done, and gave full authority to the letter about Purim. And Mordecai and Queen Esther established this decision on their own responsibility, pledging their own well-being to the plan. Esther established it by a decree forever, and it was written for a memorial.
The king levied a tax upon his kingdom both by land and sea. And as for his power and bravery, and the wealth and glory of his kingdom, they were recorded in the annals of the kings of the Persians and the Medes. Mordecai acted with authority on behalf of King Artaxerxes and was great in the kingdom, as well as honored by the Jews. His way of life was such as to make him beloved to his whole nation.