Ἐσθήρ 3
1 μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα ἐδόξασεν ὁ βασιλεὺς Ἀρταξέρξης Αμαν Αμαδαθου Βουγαῖον καὶ ὕψωσεν αὐτόν καὶ ἐπρωτοβάθρει πάντων τῶν φίλων αὐτοῦ
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 καὶ πάντες οἱ ἐν τῇ αὐλῇ προσεκύνουν αὐτῷ οὕτως γὰρ προσέταξεν ὁ βασιλεὺς ποιῆσαι ὁ δὲ Μαρδοχαῖος οὐ προσεκύνει αὐτῷ
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 καὶ ἐλάλησαν οἱ ἐν τῇ αὐλῇ τοῦ βασιλέως τῷ Μαρδοχαίῳ Μαρδοχαῖε τί παρακούεις τὰ ὑπὸ τοῦ βασιλέως λεγόμενα
The [other] officials [saw that, and they] asked Mordecai, “Why do you disobey what the king commanded?”
4 καθ’ ἑκάστην ἡμέραν ἐλάλουν αὐτῷ καὶ οὐχ ὑπήκουεν αὐτῶν καὶ ὑπέδειξαν τῷ Αμαν Μαρδοχαῖον τοῖς τοῦ βασιλέως λόγοις ἀντιτασσόμενον καὶ ὑπέδειξεν αὐτοῖς ὁ Μαρδοχαῖος ὅτι Ιουδαῖός ἐστιν
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 καὶ ἐπιγνοὺς Αμαν ὅτι οὐ προσκυνεῖ αὐτῷ Μαρδοχαῖος ἐθυμώθη σφόδρα
When Haman saw that Mordecai would not bow down to him, he became extremely angry.
6 καὶ ἐβουλεύσατο ἀφανίσαι πάντας τοὺς ὑπὸ τὴν Ἀρταξέρξου βασιλείαν Ιουδαίους
[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 καὶ ἐποίησεν ψήφισμα ἐν ἔτει δωδεκάτῳ τῆς βασιλείας Ἀρταξέρξου καὶ ἔβαλεν κλήρους ἡμέραν ἐξ ἡμέρας καὶ μῆνα ἐκ μηνὸς ὥστε ἀπολέσαι ἐν μιᾷ ἡμέρᾳ τὸ γένος Μαρδοχαίου καὶ ἔπεσεν ὁ κλῆρος εἰς τὴν τεσσαρεσκαιδεκάτην τοῦ μηνός ὅς ἐστιν Αδαρ
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 καὶ ἐλάλησεν πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα Ἀρταξέρξην λέγων ὑπάρχει ἔθνος διεσπαρμένον ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν ἐν πάσῃ τῇ βασιλείᾳ σου οἱ δὲ νόμοι αὐτῶν ἔξαλλοι παρὰ πάντα τὰ ἔθνη τῶν δὲ νόμων τοῦ βασιλέως παρακούουσιν καὶ οὐ συμφέρει τῷ βασιλεῖ ἐᾶσαι αὐτούς
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 εἰ δοκεῖ τῷ βασιλεῖ δογματισάτω ἀπολέσαι αὐτούς κἀγὼ διαγράψω εἰς τὸ γαζοφυλάκιον τοῦ βασιλέως ἀργυρίου τάλαντα μύρια
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 καὶ περιελόμενος ὁ βασιλεὺς τὸν δακτύλιον ἔδωκεν εἰς χεῖρα τῷ Αμαν σφραγίσαι κατὰ τῶν γεγραμμένων κατὰ τῶν Ιουδαίων
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 καὶ εἶπεν ὁ βασιλεὺς τῷ Αμαν τὸ μὲν ἀργύριον ἔχε τῷ δὲ ἔθνει χρῶ ὡς βούλει
The king told Haman, “Keep your money, but do what you want to with those people [whom you talked about]!”
12 καὶ ἐκλήθησαν οἱ γραμματεῖς τοῦ βασιλέως μηνὶ πρώτῳ τῇ τρισκαιδεκάτῃ καὶ ἔγραψαν ὡς ἐπέταξεν Αμαν τοῖς στρατηγοῖς καὶ τοῖς ἄρχουσιν κατὰ πᾶσαν χώραν ἀπὸ Ἰνδικῆς ἕως τῆς Αἰθιοπίας ταῖς ἑκατὸν εἴκοσι ἑπτὰ χώραις τοῖς τε ἄρχουσι τῶν ἐθνῶν κατὰ τὴν αὐτῶν λέξιν δῑ Ἀρταξέρξου τοῦ βασιλέως
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 καὶ ἀπεστάλη διὰ βιβλιαφόρων εἰς τὴν Ἀρταξέρξου βασιλείαν ἀφανίσαι τὸ γένος τῶν Ιουδαίων ἐν ἡμέρᾳ μιᾷ μηνὸς δωδεκάτου ὅς ἐστιν Αδαρ καὶ διαρπάσαι τὰ ὑπάρχοντα αὐτῶν
14 τὰ δὲ ἀντίγραφα τῶν ἐπιστολῶν ἐξετίθετο κατὰ χώραν καὶ προσετάγη πᾶσι τοῖς ἔθνεσιν ἑτοίμους εἶναι εἰς τὴν ἡμέραν ταύτην
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 ἐσπεύδετο δὲ τὸ πρᾶγμα καὶ εἰς Σουσαν ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς καὶ Αμαν ἐκωθωνίζοντο ἐταράσσετο δὲ ἡ πόλις
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].
