Esther 3

¹After these things King Ahasu-eʹrus promoted Haman the Agʹagite, the son of Hammedaʹtha, and advanced him and set his seat above all the princes who were with him. ²And all the king’s servants who were at the king’s gate bowed down and did obeisance to Haman; for the king had so commanded concerning him. But Morʹdecai did not bow down or do obeisance. ³Then the king’s servants who were at the king’s gate said to Morʹdecai, “Why do you transgress the king’s command?” ⁴And when they spoke to him day after day and he would not listen to them, they told Haman, in order to see whether Morʹdecai’s words would avail; for he had told them that he was a Jew. ⁵And when Haman saw that Morʹdecai did not bow down or do obeisance to him, Haman was filled with fury. ⁶But he disdained to lay hands on Morʹdecai alone. So, as they had made known to him the people of Morʹdecai, Haman sought to destroy all the Jews, the people of Morʹdecai, throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasu-eʹrus.

⁷In the first month, which is the month of Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Ahasu-eʹrus, they cast Pur, that is the lot, before Haman day after day; and they cast it month after month till the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar. ⁸Then Haman said to King Ahasu-eʹrus, “There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom; their laws are different from those of every other people, and they do not keep the king’s laws, so that it is not for the king’s profit to tolerate them. ⁹If it please the king, let it be decreed that they be destroyed, and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those who have charge of the king’s business, that they may put it into the king’s treasuries.” ¹⁰So the king took his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman the Agʹagite, the son of Hammedaʹtha, the enemy of the Jews. ¹¹And the king said to Haman, “The money is given to you, the people also, to do with them as it seems good to you.”

¹²Then the king’s secretaries were summoned on the thirteenth day of the first month, and an edict, according to all that Haman commanded, was written to the king’s satraps and to the governors over all the provinces and to the princes of all the peoples, to every province in its own script and every people in its own language; it was written in the name of King Ahasu-eʹrus and sealed with the king’s ring. ¹³Letters were sent by couriers to all the king’s provinces, to destroy, to slay, and to annihilate all Jews, young and old, women and children, in one day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar, and to plunder their goods. ¹⁴A copy of the document was to be issued as a decree in every province by proclamation to all the peoples to be ready for that day. ¹⁵The couriers went in haste by order of the king, and the decree was issued in Susa the capital. And the king and Haman sat down to drink; but the city of Susa was perplexed.