Esther 3

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.