Verse 22

as the time when the Jews gave themselves rest from their enemies– the month when their trouble was turned to happiness and their mourning to a holiday. These were to be days of banqueting, happiness, sending gifts to one another, and providing for the poor.

Referenced Verses

  • Ps 30:11 : 11 Then you turned my lament into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and covered me with joy.
  • Esth 9:19 : 19 This is why the Jews who are in the rural country– those who live in rural cities– set aside the fourteenth day of the month of Adar for happiness, banqueting, a holiday, and sending gifts to one another.
  • Exod 13:3-8 : 3 Moses said to the people,“Remember this day on which you came out from Egypt, from the place where you were enslaved, for the LORD brought you out of there with a mighty hand– and no bread made with yeast may be eaten. 4 On this day, in the month of Abib, you are going out. 5 When the LORD brings you to the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Hivites, and Jebusites, which he swore to your fathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, then you will keep this ceremony in this month. 6 For seven days you must eat bread made without yeast, and on the seventh day there is to be a festival to the LORD. 7 Bread made without yeast must be eaten for seven days; no bread made with yeast shall be seen among you, and you must have no yeast among you within any of your borders. 8 You are to tell your son on that day,‘It is because of what the LORD did for me when I came out of Egypt.’
  • Neh 8:10-12 : 10 He said to them,“Go and eat delicacies and drink sweet drinks and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared. For this day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.” 11 Then the Levites quieted all the people saying,“Be quiet, for this day is holy. Do not grieve.” 12 So all the people departed to eat and drink and to share their food with others and to enjoy tremendous joy, for they had gained insight in the matters that had been made known to them.
  • Esth 3:12-13 : 12 So the royal scribes were summoned in the first month, on the thirteenth day of the month. Everything Haman commanded was written to the king’s satraps and governors who were in every province and to the officials of every people, province by province according to its script and people by people according to its language. In the name of King Ahasuerus it was written and sealed with the king’s signet ring. 13 Letters were sent by the runners to all the king’s provinces stating that they should destroy, kill, and annihilate all the Jews, from youth to elderly, both women and children, on a particular day, namely the thirteenth day of the twelfth month(that is, the month of Adar), and to loot and plunder their possessions.
  • Ps 103:2 : 2 Praise the LORD, O my soul! Do not forget all his kind deeds!
  • Isa 12:1-2 : 1 At that time you will say:“I praise you, O LORD, for even though you were angry with me, your anger subsided, and you consoled me. 2 Look, God is my deliverer! I will trust in him and not fear. For the LORD gives me strength and protects me; he has become my deliverer.”
  • Isa 14:3 : 3 When the LORD gives you relief from your suffering and anxiety, and from the hard labor which you were made to perform,
  • Matt 5:4 : 4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
  • Luke 11:41 : 41 But give from your heart to those in need, and then everything will be clean for you.
  • John 16:20-22 : 20 I tell you the solemn truth, you will weep and wail, but the world will rejoice; you will be sad, but your sadness will turn into joy. 21 When a woman gives birth, she has distress because her time has come, but when her child is born, she no longer remembers the suffering because of her joy that a human being has been born into the world. 22 So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you.
  • Acts 2:44-46 : 44 All who believed were together and held everything in common, 45 and they began selling their property and possessions and distributing the proceeds to everyone, as anyone had need. 46 Every day they continued to gather together by common consent in the temple courts, breaking bread from house to house, sharing their food with glad and humble hearts,
  • Gal 2:10 : 10 They requested only that we remember the poor, the very thing I also was eager to do.