Esther 3–4

Haman’s Conspiracy Against the Jews

3After these things King Ahasuerus promoted Haman, the son of Hammedatha the ^aAgagite, and ^badvanced him and set his seat above all the princes who were with him. ²And all the king’s servants who were ^cwithin the king’s gate bowed and paid homage to Haman, for so the king had commanded concerning him. But Mordecai ^dwould not bow or pay homage. ³Then the king’s servants who were within the king’s gate said to Mordecai, “Why do you transgress the ^eking’s command?” ⁴Now it happened, when they spoke to him daily and he would not listen to them, that they told it to Haman, to see whether Mordecai’s words would stand; for Mordecai had told them that he was a Jew. ⁵When Haman saw that Mordecai ^fdid not bow or pay him homage, Haman was ^gfilled with wrath. ⁶But he disdained to lay hands on Mordecai alone, for they had told him of the people of Mordecai. Instead, Haman ^hsought to destroy all the Jews who were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus—the people of Mordecai.

⁷In the first month, which is the month of Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, ⁱthey cast Pur (that is, the lot), before Haman ¹to determine the day and the ²month, ³until it fell on the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar.

⁸Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the people in all the provinces of your kingdom; ^jtheir laws are different from all other people’s, and they do not keep the king’s laws. Therefore it is not fitting for the king to let them remain. ⁹If it pleases the king, let a decree be written that they be destroyed, and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those who do the work, to bring it into the king’s treasuries.”

¹⁰So the king ^ktook ^lhis signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the ^menemy of the Jews. ¹¹And the king said to Haman, “The money and the people are given to you, to do with them as seems good to you.”

¹²ⁿThen the king’s scribes were called on the thirteenth day of the first month, and a decree was written according to all that Haman commanded—to the king’s satraps, to the governors who were over each province, to the officials of all people, to every province ^oaccording to its script, and to every people in their language. ^pIn the name of King Ahasuerus it was written, and sealed with the king’s signet ring. ¹³And the letters were ^qsent by couriers into all the king’s provinces, to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate all the Jews, both young and old, little children and women, ^rin one day, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar, and ^sto plunder their ⁴possessions. ^14tA copy of the document was to be issued as law in every province, being published for all people, that they should be ready for that day. ¹⁵The couriers went out, hastened by the king’s command; and the decree was proclaimed in ⁵Shushan the ⁶citadel. So the king and Haman sat down to drink, but ^uthe city of Shushan was ⁷perplexed.

Esther Agrees to Help the Jews

4When Mordecai learned all that had happened, ¹he ^atore his clothes and put on sackcloth ^band ashes, and went out into the midst of the city. He ^ccried out with a loud and bitter cry. ²He went as far as the front of the king’s gate, for no one might enter the king’s gate clothed with sackcloth. ³And in every province where the king’s command and decree arrived, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping, and wailing; and many lay in sackcloth and ashes.

⁴So Esther’s maids and eunuchs came and told her, and the queen was deeply distressed. Then she sent garments to clothe Mordecai and take his sackcloth away from him, but he would not accept them. ⁵Then Esther called Hathach, one of the king’s eunuchs whom he had appointed to attend her, and she gave him a command concerning Mordecai, to learn what and why this was. ⁶So Hathach went out to Mordecai in the city square that was in front of the king’s gate. ⁷And Mordecai told him all that had happened to him, and ^dthe sum of money that Haman had promised to pay into the king’s treasuries to destroy the Jews. ⁸He also gave him ^ea copy of the written decree for their destruction, which was given at ²Shushan, that he might show it to Esther and explain it to her, and that he might command her to go in to the king to make supplication to him and plead before him for her people. ⁹So Hathach returned and told Esther the words of Mordecai.

¹⁰Then Esther spoke to Hathach, and gave him a command for Mordecai: ¹¹“All the king’s servants and the people of the king’s provinces know that any man or woman who goes into ^fthe inner court to the king, who has not been called, ^ghe has but one law: put all to death, except the one ^hto whom the king holds out the golden scepter, that he may live. Yet I myself have not been ⁱcalled to go in to the king these thirty days.” ¹²So they told Mordecai Esther’s words.

¹³And Mordecai told them to answer Esther: “Do not think in your heart that you will escape in the king’s palace any more than all the other Jews. ¹⁴For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”

¹⁵Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai: ¹⁶“Go, gather all the Jews who are present in ³Shushan, and fast for me; neither eat nor drink for ^jthree days, night or day. My maids and I will fast likewise. And so I will go to the king, which is against the law; ^kand if I perish, I perish!”

¹⁷So Mordecai went his way and did according to all that Esther commanded ⁴him.