The Jews accepted the custom that they had begun, as Mordecai had written to them;
Parallel translations
- KJV And the Jews undertook to do as they had begun, and as Mordecai had written unto them;
- BSB So the Jews agreed to continue the custom they had started, as Mordecai had written to them.
- NKJV So the Jews accepted the custom which they had begun, as Mordecai had written to them,
- NASB So the Jews undertook what they had started to do, and what Mordecai had written to them.
- NLT So the Jews accepted Mordecai’s proposal and adopted this annual custom.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The Jews accepted as binding custom what they had already begun, following Mordecai's instructions. Spontaneous celebration becomes a settled annual observance.
Overview
The festival arose first from the people's own joyful response and was then formalized at Mordecai's direction. This blend of grassroots gratitude and authoritative confirmation gives Purim both heartfelt and ordered standing in Jewish life. The people's willing acceptance shows a community eager to remember and rehearse God's deliverance.
Cross-references & the web
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Christ at the center
Though God is never named, his hidden hand preserves the people from whom the Messiah will come — a deliverance 'for such a time as this' that anticipates the open deliverance of Christ.
How Esther 9:23 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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