Esther 3

1 And after this king Artaxerxes highly honoured Aman [son] of Amadathes, the Bugaean, and exalted him, and set his seat above all his friends.

After these events King Ahasuerus promoted Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, and advanced him to a place above all the officials who were with him.

2 And all in the palace did him obeisance, for so the king had given orders to do: but Mardochaeus did not do him obeisance.

All the king’s courtiers who were in the king’s gate used to bow down before Haman, for so the king had commanded, but Mordecai did not bow down nor prostrate himself.

3 And they in the king's palace said to Mardochaeus, Mardochaeus, why do you transgress the commands of the king?

Then the king’s courtiers, who were in the king’s gate, said to Mordecai, “Why do you disobey the king’s command?”

4 [Thus] they spoke daily to him, but he listened not to them; so they represented to Aman that Mardochaeus resisted the commands of the king: and Mardochaeus had shown to them that he was a Jew.

When they had spoken to him day after day without his listening to them, they informed Haman, to see whether Mordecai’s acts would be tolerated, for he had told them that he was a Jew.

5 And when Aman understood that Mardochaeus did not obeisance to him, he was greatly enraged,

When Haman saw that Mordecai did not bow down nor prostrate himself before him, he was furious.

6 and took counsel to destroy utterly all the Jews who were under the rule of Artaxerxes.

But it seemed to him beneath his dignity to lay hands on Mordecai alone, for they had told him who Mordecai’s people were. Instead Haman sought to destroy all the people of Mordecai, all the Jews throughout the kingdom of Ahasuerus.

7 And he made a decree in the twelfth year of the reign of Artaxerxes, and cast lots daily and monthly, to kill in one day the race of Mardochaeus: and the lot fell on the fourteenth [day] of the month which is Adar.

In the first month (the month of Nisan) in the twelfth year of the reign of King Ahasuerus, Haman had ‘pur’ (which means ‘lot’) cast before him to determine the best day and best month for his actions. The lot fell on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month – the month of Adar.

8 And he spoke to king Artaxerxes, saying, There is a nation scattered amongst the nations in all your kingdom, and their laws differ from [those of] all the [other] nations; and they disobey the laws of the king; and it is not expedient for the king to let them alone.

So Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom, whose laws differ from those of every other and who do not keep the king’s laws. Therefore it is not right for the king to tolerate them.

9 If it seem good to the king, let him make a decree to destroy them: and I will remit into the king's treasury ten thousand talents of silver.

If it seems best to the king, let an order be given to destroy them, and I will pay ten thousand silver coins into the royal treasury.”

10 And the king took off his ring, and gave it into the hands of Aman, to seal the decrees against the Jews.

So the king took off his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews.

11 And the king said to Aman, Keep the silver, and treat the nation as you will.

“The money is yours,” the king said to Haman, “and the people also to do with them as you wish.”

12 So the king's recorders were called in the first month, on the thirteenth [day], and they wrote as Aman commanded to the captains and governors in every province, from India even to Ethiopia, to a hundred and twenty-seven provinces; and to the rulers of the nations according to their [several] languages, in the name of king Artaxerxes.

And so, on the thirteenth day of the first month, the king’s secretaries were summoned and as Haman instructed an edict was issued to the king’s satraps and provincial governors and the rulers of each of the peoples in their own script and their own language. The edict was written in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed with his ring.

13 And [the message] was sent by posts throughout the kingdom of Artaxerxes, to destroy utterly the race of the Jews on the first day of the twelfth month, which is Adar, and to plunder their goods.

Dispatches were sent by couriers to all the king’s provinces, saying: Destroy, kill, put an end to all the Jews, young and old, little children and women, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, and plunder their possessions.

14 And the copies of the letters were published in every province; and an order was given to all the nations to be ready against that day.

A copy of the edict was to be published as a decree in every province – publicly displayed so that everyone might be ready for that day.

15 And the business was hastened, and [that] at Susa: and the king and Aman began to drink; but the city was troubled.

By command of the king the couriers raced off, and the edict was published in Susa itself. Then the king and Haman sat down to drink, but the city of Susa was in turmoil.