The rest of the events of Manasseh’s reign, including his prayer to his God and the words the prophets ¹  spoke to him in the name of the Lord God of Israel, are recorded ²  in the Annals of the Kings of Israel.

Therefore, because of the account found in this letter and what they had faced in this regard and what had happened to them, the Jews established as binding on themselves, their descendants, and all who joined their company that they should observe these two days without fail, just as written and at the appropriate time on an annual basis.

You are the one in whom Israel may find hope. ¹  All who leave you will suffer shame. Those who turn away from you ²  will be consigned to the nether world. ³  For they have rejected you, the Lord, the fountain of life. ⁴ 

But now we have been released from the law, because we have died ¹  to what controlled us, so that we may serve in the new life of the Spirit and not under the old written code. ² 

The king’s scribes were quickly ¹  summoned – in the third month (that is, the month of Sivan), on the twenty-third day. ²  They wrote out ³  everything that Mordecai instructed to the Jews and to the satraps and the governors and the officials of the provinces all the way from India to Ethiopia ⁴  – a hundred and twenty-seven provinces in all – to each province in its own script and to each people in their own language, and to the Jews according to their own script and their own language.

This is the record ¹  of the family line ²  of Adam. When God created humankind, ³  he made them ⁴  in the likeness of God.

When the king heard the words of the law scroll, he tore his clothes.

The rest of the events of Uzziah’s reign, from start to finish, were recorded by the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz. ¹ 

When the king heard the words of the law scroll, he tore his clothes.

May their names be deleted from the scroll of the living! ¹  Do not let their names be listed with the godly! ² 

The Teacher sought to find delightful ¹  words, and to write ²  accurately truthful sayings. ³ 

Then I looked and realized a hand was stretched out to me, and in it was a written scroll.

I spelled out my law for him in great detail, but they regard it as something totally unknown ¹  to them!

When reading this, ¹  you will be able to ²  understand my insight into this secret ³  of Christ.

But regarding the Gentiles who have believed, we have written a letter, having decided ¹  that they should avoid ²  meat that has been sacrificed to idols ³  and blood and what has been strangled ⁴  and sexual immorality.”

Grace be with you all. ¹ 

And if anyone takes away from the words of this book of prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life ¹  and in the holy city that are described in this book.

But God was watching over ¹  the elders of Judah, and they were not stopped ²  until a report could be dispatched ³  to Darius and a letter could be sent back concerning this.

The descendants of Levi were recorded in the Book of the Chronicles ¹  as heads of families up to the days of Johanan son of Eliashib.

So Queen Esther, the daughter of Abihail, and Mordecai the Jew wrote with full authority to confirm this second ¹  letter about Purim.