Haman Plans to Destroy the Jews

3 After 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.

7The lot was cast in front of Haman. That was done to choose a day and a month. It was the 12th year that Xerxes was king. It was in the first month. That was the month of Nisan. The lot chose the 12th month. That was the month of Adar. The lot was also called pur.

8Then Haman said to King Xerxes, “Certain people are scattered among the nations. They live in all of the territories in your kingdom. Their practices are different from the practices of all other people. They don’t obey your laws. It really isn’t good for you to put up with them.

9“If it pleases you, give the order to destroy them. I’ll even add 375 tons of silver to the royal treasures. You can use it to pay the men who take care of the matter.”

10So the king took his ring off his finger. The ring had his royal seal on it. He gave the ring to Haman. Haman was the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite. He was the enemy of the Jews.

11“Keep the money,” the king said to Haman. “Do what you want to with those people.”

12The king sent for the royal secretaries. It was the 13th day of the first month. The secretaries wrote down all of Haman’s orders. They wrote them down in the writing of each territory in the kingdom. They also wrote them in the language of each nation. The orders were sent to the royal officials. They were also sent to the governors of the territories. And they went out to the nobles of the nations. The orders were written in the name of King Xerxes himself. And they were stamped with his own royal seal. 13They were carried by messengers. They were sent to all of the king’s territories.

The orders commanded people to destroy, kill and wipe out all of the Jews. That included young people and old people alike. It included women and little children. All of the Jews were supposed to be killed on a single day. That day was the 13th day of the 12th month. It was the month of Adar. The orders also commanded people to take the goods that belonged to the Jews.

14A copy of the order had to be sent out as law. It had to be sent to every territory in the kingdom. It had to be announced to the people of every nation. Then they would be ready for that day.

15The king commanded the messengers to go out. So they did. The order was sent out from the safest place in Susa. Then the king and Haman sat down to drink wine. But the people in the city were bewildered.