3After those events, King Xerxes honored Haman. Haman was the son of Hammedatha. He was from the family line of Agag. The king gave Haman a higher position than he had before. He gave him a seat of honor. It was higher than the positions any of the other nobles had. ²All of the royal officials at the palace gate got down on their knees. They gave honor to Haman. That’s because the king had commanded them to do it.

But Mordecai refused to get down on his knees. He wouldn’t give Haman any honor at all.

³The royal officials at the palace gate asked Mordecai a question. They said, “Why don’t you obey the king’s command?” ⁴Day after day they spoke to him. But he still refused to obey. So they told Haman about it. They wanted to see whether he would let Mordecai get away with what he was doing. Mordecai had told them he was a Jew.

⁵Haman noticed that Mordecai wouldn’t get down on his knees. He wouldn’t give Haman any honor. So Haman burned with anger. ⁶But he had found out who Mordecai’s people were. So he decided not to kill just Mordecai. He also looked for a way to destroy all of Mordecai’s people. They were Jews. He wanted to kill all of them everywhere in the kingdom of Xerxes.

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