Esther 3
1 Et, après cela, le roi Artaxerxès glorifia Aman, fils d'Amadathe le Bugéen, et il l'exalta, et il le fit asseoir sur un siège au-dessus de tous ses amis.
Some time later, King Xerxes (promoted/gave his most important job/work to) Haman, the son of Hammedatha, who was a descendant of [King] Agag. Haman became more important than all his other officials. [Only the king was more important.]
2 Et tous ceux qui servaient dans le parvis l'adoraient, car ainsi l'avait ordonné le roi; et Mardochée ne se prosternait pas devant lui.
Then the king commanded that all the other officials had to bow down in front of Haman to honor him [when he walked by]. But Mordecai refused to bow down to Haman.
3 Et les serviteurs du parvis dirent à Mardochée: Mardochée, pourquoi désobéis-tu à ce qu'a dit le roi?
The [other] officials [saw that, and they] asked Mordecai, “Why do you disobey what the king commanded?”
4 Chaque jour ils lui parlaient ainsi, et il ne les écoutait pas; enfin, ils informèrent Aman que Mardochée résistait aux ordres du roi; or, Mardochée leur avait déclaré qu'il était Juif.
Mordecai told them that he was a Jew, [and that Jews would bow down only to God]. Day after day the other officials spoke to Mordecai about that, but he still refused to obey. So they told Haman about it, to see if Haman would tolerate it.
5 Et Aman, en apprenant que Mardochée ne se prosternait pas devant lui, fut fort courroucé.
When Haman saw that Mordecai would not bow down to him, he became extremely angry.
6 Et il résolut d'effacer tous les Juifs du royaume d'Artaxerxès.
[After he found out that Mordecai was a Jew, ] he decided that it would not be enough to get rid of only Mordecai. He decided to kill all the Jews in all the area that Xerxes ruled.
7 Et, en la douzième année du règne d'Artaxerxès, il prépara un édit, et il agita les sorts pour savoir le mois et le jour où il exterminerait en même temps la race de Mardochée, et le sort tomba sur le quatorzième du mois qui est appelé adar.
So, during the twelfth year that Xerxes was ruling, during the month of April, [Haman told his advisors to] (cast lots/throw small marked stones) to determine the best month and the best day to kill the Jews. Haman’s advisors did that, and the day that was selected was March 7th [during the following/next year].
8 Et il parla au roi disant: Il y a un peuple épars en toutes les provinces de ton royaume; leurs lois diffèrent de toutes les autres lois; ils n'obéissent point à celles du roi; il n'est pas à propos que le roi les laisse subsister.
Then Haman [went to] the king [and] said to [him], “[Your majesty, ] there is a certain group of people who live in many areas [of your empire] whose customs are different from ours. They even refuse to obey your laws. So it would be good for you to get rid of them.
9 S'il plaît au roi, qu'il décrète qu'on les détruise, et moi je ferai rentrer au trésor royal dix mille talents d'argent.
If it pleases you, command that they should all be killed. [If you do that, ] I will give (375 tons/750,000 pounds) of silver to your administrators so that you can use it for your government.”
10 Et le roi ôtant son anneau le remit à Aman pour sceller l'édit contre les Juifs.
The king liked [what Haman said, so, and to confirm what he decided], he gave the ring that had his official seal on it to Haman, who now hated the Jews.
11 Et le roi lui dit: L'argent sera pour toi, fais de ce peuple ce qu'il te plaît.
The king told Haman, “Keep your money, but do what you want to with those people [whom you talked about]!”
12 Et, le treize du premier mois, les scribes du roi furent convoqués, et ils écrivirent, selon l'ordre d'Aman, aux généraux et aux gouverneurs des cent vingt-sept provinces de l'Inde à l'Éthiopie, et aux chefs des nations chacun en sa langue, de la part du roi Artaxerxès.
On April 17th Haman summoned the king’s secretaries, and he dictated a letter to them that they [translated and] wrote to all the governors and administrators and other officials in all the provinces. They wrote copies of the letter in every language and every kind of writing/alphabet that was used in the empire. They wrote that all the Jews, [including] young people and old people, women and children, had to be killed on one day. That day was March 7th of the following year. They also wrote that [those who killed the Jews] could take everything that belonged to the Jews. [They signed] the king’s name [at the end of] the letters. Then they sealed the letters [with wax, and stamped the wax by] using the king’s ring. Then they sent the letters swiftly to every province in the empire,
13 Et des courriers portèrent dans tout le royaume le commandement de détruire en un seul jour, le premier du douzième mois, qui est adar, toute la race des Juifs, et de piller leurs biens.
14 Et les copies de ces lettres furent publiées en chaque province, et il fut enjoint à chaque nation de se tenir prête pour le jour indiqué.
The king [also commanded that] copies of these letters should be [nailed up] where [all the people] could see them, in every province, so that the people would be ready to do on the day the king had set [what was written in the letter].
15 On y avait mis de l'empressement à Suse, et le roi et Aman buvaient à pleines coupes; mais la ville était toute troublée.
Then, according to what the king commanded, men [riding horses] took those letters quickly to every province [in the empire]. And one of the letters was read [aloud to the people] in the capital city, Susa. Then the king and Haman sat down and drank [wine], but the people in Susa were very perplexed [about why this was going to happen].
