Esther 3:1–4:17
1 After these events King Ahasuerus apromoted Haman, the son of Hammedatha bthe Agagite, and aadvanced him and 1established his authority over all the princes who were with him.
2 All the king’s servants who were at the king’s gate bowed down 1and paid homage to Haman; for so the king had commanded concerning him. But aMordecai neither bowed down nor paid homage.
3 Then the king’s servants who were at athe king’s gate said to Mordecai, “bWhy are you transgressing the king’s command?”
4 Now it was when they had spoken daily to him and he would not listen to them, that they told Haman to see whether Mordecai’s reason would stand; for he had told them that he was a Jew.
5 When Haman saw that aMordecai neither bowed down nor paid homage to him, Haman was filled with rage.
6 But he 1disdained to 2lay hands on Mordecai alone, for they had told him who the people of Mordecai were; therefore Haman asought to destroy all the Jews, the people of Mordecai, who were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus.
7 In the first month, which is the month Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, 1Pur, that is the lot, was acast before Haman from day to day and from month to month, 2until the twelfth month, that is bthe month Adar.
8 Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom; atheir laws are different from those of all other people and they do not observe the king’s laws, so it is not in the king’s interest to let them remain.
9 “If it is pleasing to the king, let it be 1decreed that they be destroyed, and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those who carry on the king’s business, to put into the king’s treasuries.”
10 Then athe king took his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman, the son of Hammedatha bthe Agagite, cthe enemy of the Jews.
11 The king said to Haman, “The silver is 1yours, and the people also, to do with them as you please.”
12 aThen the king’s scribes were summoned on the thirteenth day of the first month, and it was written just as Haman commanded to bthe king’s satraps, to the governors who were over each province and to the princes of each people, each province according to its script, each people according to its language, being written cin the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed with the king’s signet ring.
13 Letters were sent by acouriers to all the king’s provinces bto destroy, to kill and to annihilate all the Jews, both young and old, women and children, cin one day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, and to dseize their possessions as plunder.
14 aA copy of the edict to be 1issued as law in every province was published to all the peoples so that they should be ready for this day.
15 The couriers went out impelled by the king’s command while the decree was 1issued at the citadel in Susa; and while the king and Haman sat down to drink, athe city of Susa was in confusion.
1 When Mordecai learned aall that had been done, 1he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the midst of the city and wailed loudly and bitterly.
2 He went as far as the king’s gate, for no one was to enter the king’s gate clothed in sackcloth.
3 In each and every province where the command and decree of the king came, there was great mourning among the Jews, with afasting, weeping and wailing; and many lay on sackcloth and ashes.
4 Then Esther’s maidens and her eunuchs came and told her, and the queen writhed in great anguish. And she sent garments to clothe Mordecai that he might remove his sackcloth from him, but he did not accept them.
5 Then Esther summoned Hathach from the king’s eunuchs, whom 1the king had appointed to attend her, and ordered him to go to Mordecai to learn what this was and why it was.
6 So Hathach went out to Mordecai to the city square in front of the king’s gate.
7 Mordecai told him all that had happened to him, and athe exact amount of money that Haman had promised to pay to the king’s treasuries for the destruction of the Jews.
8 He also gave him aa copy of the text of the edict which had been issued in Susa for their destruction, that he might show Esther and inform her, and to order her to go in to the king to implore his favor and to plead with him for her people.
9 Hathach came back and related Mordecai’s words to Esther.
10 Then Esther spoke to Hathach and ordered him to reply to Mordecai:
11 “All the king’s servants and the people of the king’s provinces know that for any man or woman who acomes to the king to the inner court who is not summoned, bhe has but one law, that he be put to death, unless the king holds out cto him the golden scepter so that he may live. And I have not been summoned to come to the king for these thirty days.”
12 They related Esther’s words to Mordecai.
13 Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, “Do not imagine that you in the king’s palace can escape any more than all the Jews.
14 “For if you remain silent at this time, relief and adeliverance will arise for the Jews from another place and you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this?”
15 Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai,
16 “Go, assemble all the Jews who are found in Susa, and fast for me; ado not eat or drink for bthree days, night or day. I and my maidens also will fast in the same way. And thus I will go in to the king, which is not according to the law; and if I perish, I perish.”
17 So Mordecai went away and did just as Esther had commanded him.