Esther 3–4

Haman Plots Against the Jews

3After these things King Ahasuerus ^qpromoted Haman ^rthe Agagite, the son of Hammedatha, ^sand advanced him and set his throne above all the officials who were with him. ²And all the king’s servants who were at the king’s gate bowed down and paid homage to Haman, for the king had so commanded concerning him. ^tBut Mordecai did not bow down or pay homage. ³Then the king’s servants who were ^uat the king’s gate said to Mordecai, “Why do you transgress ^vthe king’s command?” ⁴And when they spoke to him day after day and he would not listen to them, they told Haman, in order to see whether Mordecai’s words would stand, for he had told them that he was a Jew. ⁵And when Haman saw that ^tMordecai did not bow down or pay homage to him, Haman was ^wfilled with fury. ⁶But he disdained¹ to lay hands on Mordecai alone. So, as they had made known to him the people of Mordecai, Haman sought to destroy² all the Jews, the people of Mordecai, throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus.

⁷In the first month, which is the month of Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, ^xthey cast Pur (that is, they cast lots) before Haman day after day; and they cast it month after month till the twelfth month, which is ^ythe month of Adar. ⁸Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom. ^zTheir laws are different from those of every other people, and they do not keep the king’s laws, so that it is not to the king’s profit to tolerate them. ⁹If it please the king, let it be decreed that they be destroyed, and I will pay 10,000 talents³ of silver into the hands of those who have charge of the king’s business, that they may put it into the king’s treasuries.” ^10aSo the king took his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman ^bthe Agagite, the son of Hammedatha, ^cthe enemy of the Jews. ¹¹And the king said to Haman, “The money is given to you, the people also, to do with them as it seems good to you.”

^12dThen the king’s scribes were summoned on the thirteenth day of the first month, and an edict, according to all that Haman commanded, was written to the king’s ^esatraps and to the governors over all the provinces and to the officials of all the peoples, ^fto every province in its own script and every people in its own language. It was written ^gin the name of King Ahasuerus ^hand sealed with the king’s signet ring. ¹³Letters were sent ⁱby couriers to all the king’s provinces with instruction ^jto destroy, to kill, and to annihilate all Jews, young and old, women and children, ^kin one day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar, ^land to plunder their goods. ^14mA copy of the document was to be issued as a decree in every province by proclamation to all the peoples to be ready for that day. ¹⁵ⁱThe couriers went out hurriedly by order of the king, and the decree was issued in Susa the citadel. And the king and Haman sat down to drink, ⁿbut the city of Susa was thrown into confusion.

Esther Agrees to Help the Jews

4When Mordecai learned all that had been done, Mordecai tore his clothes ^oand put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the midst of the city, and he cried out with a loud and bitter cry. ²He went up to the entrance of the king’s gate, for no one was allowed to enter the king’s gate clothed in sackcloth. ³And in every province, wherever the king’s command and his decree reached, there was great mourning among the Jews, ^pwith fasting and weeping and lamenting, and many of them ^qlay in sackcloth and ashes.

⁴When Esther’s young women and her eunuchs came and told her, the queen was deeply distressed. She sent garments to clothe Mordecai, so that he might take off his sackcloth, but he would not accept them. ⁵Then Esther called for Hathach, one of the king’s eunuchs, who had been appointed to attend her, and ordered him to go to Mordecai to learn what this was and why it was. ⁶Hathach went out to Mordecai in the open square of the city in front of the king’s gate, ⁷and Mordecai told him all that had happened to him, ^rand the exact sum of money that Haman had promised to pay into the king’s treasuries for the destruction of the Jews. ⁸Mordecai also gave him ^sa copy of the written decree issued in Susa for their destruction,¹ that he might show it to Esther and explain it to her and command her to go to the king to beg his favor and plead with him² on behalf of her people. ⁹And Hathach went and told Esther what Mordecai had said. ¹⁰Then Esther spoke to Hathach and commanded him to go to Mordecai and say, ¹¹“All the king’s servants and the people of the king’s provinces know that if any man or woman goes to the king inside ^tthe inner court without being called, ^uthere is but one law—to be put to death, except the one ^vto whom the king holds out the golden scepter so that he may live. But as for me, I have not been called to come in to the king these thirty days.”

¹²And they told Mordecai what Esther had said. ¹³Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, “Do not think to yourself that in the king’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. ¹⁴For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” ¹⁵Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai, ¹⁶“Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and do not eat or drink for ^wthree days, night or day. I and my young women will also fast as you do. Then I will go to the king, though it is against the law, ^xand if I perish, I perish.”^{3 17}Mordecai then went away and did everything as Esther had ordered him.