On the thirteenth day of the month Adar,.... This belongs to the preceding verse; and the meaning is, that on this day the Jews gathered together and slew so many thousand of their enemies as before related: and on the fourteenth day of the same rested they, and made it a feast of gladness: rejoicing that they were delivered out of the hand of their enemies, who hoped and expected on that day to have made an utter end of them; according to the Jewish canons (l), mourning and fasting on this day were forbidden, but feasting and gladness were to be multiplied. (l) Lebush, c. 697. Schulchan Aruch, par. 1. c. 697.