³³ Then they fortified the city of David with a large strong wall and strong towers, and it became their citadel.^(A)

⁵³ And he took the sons of the leading men of the land as hostages and put them under guard in the citadel at Jerusalem.^(A)

The Jews Celebrate Their Deliverance

³⁰ Then the king, when he had returned to the city, summoned the official in charge of the revenues and ordered him to provide to the Jews both wines and everything else needed for a festival of seven days, deciding that they should celebrate a festival of deliverance with all joyfulness in that same place in which they had expected to meet their destruction.^(A)