< Ester 3 >

1 Depois destas coisas o rei Assuero engrandeceu a Haman, filho de Hammedatha, agagita, e o exaltou: e pôs o seu assento acima de todos os príncipes que estavam com ele.
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 E todos os servos do rei, que estavam à porta do rei, se inclinavam e se prostravam perante Haman; porque assim tinha ordenado o rei acerca dele: porém mardoqueu não se inclinava nem se prostrava.
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 Então os servos do rei, que estavam à porta do rei, disseram a mardoqueu: Porque traspassas o mandado do rei?
The [other] officials [saw that, and they] asked Mordecai, “Why do you disobey what the king commanded?”
4 Sucedeu pois que, dizendo-lhe eles isto de dia em dia, e não lhes dando ele ouvidos, o fizeram saber a Haman, para verem se as palavras de mardoqueu se sustentariam, porque ele lhes tinha declarado que era judeu.
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 Vendo pois Haman que mardoqueu se não inclinava nem se prostrava diante dele, Haman se encheu de furor.
When Haman saw that Mordecai would not bow down to him, he became extremely angry.
6 Porém em seus olhos teve em pouco de pôr as mãos só em mardoqueu (porque lhe haviam declarado o povo de mardoqueu); Haman pois procurou destruir a todos os judeus que havia em todo o reino de Assuero, ao povo de mardoqueu.
[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 No primeiro mês (que é o mês de nisan), no ano duodécimo do rei Assuero, se lançou pur, isto é, sorte, perante Haman, de dia em dia, e de mês em mes, até ao duodécimo mes, que é o mês de 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 E Haman disse ao rei Assuero: há um povo espargido e dividido entre os povos em todas as províncias do teu reino, cujas leis são diferentes das leis de todos os povos, e tão pouco fazem as leis do rei; pelo que não convém ao rei deixa-los ficar.
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 Se bem parecer ao rei, escreva-se que os matem: e eu porei nas mãos dos que fizerem a obra dez mil talentos de prata, para que se metam nos tesouros do rei.
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 Então tirou o rei o seu anel da sua mão, e o deu a Haman, filho de Hammedatha, agagita, adversário dos judeus.
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 E disse o rei a Haman: Essa prata te é dada, como também esse povo, para fazeres dele o que bem parecer aos teus olhos.
The king told Haman, “Keep your money, but do what you want to with those people [whom you talked about]!”
12 Então chamaram os escrivães do rei no primeiro mes, no dia treze do mesmo, e conforme a tudo quanto Haman mandou se escreveu aos príncipes do rei, e aos governadores que havia sobre cada província, e aos principais de cada povo; a cada província segundo a sua escritura, e a cada povo segundo a sua língua; em nome do rei Assuero se escreveu, e com o anel do rei se selou.
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 E as cartas se enviaram pela mão dos correios a todas as províncias do rei, que destruíssem, matassem, e lançassem a perder a todos os judeus desde o moço até ao velho, crianças e mulheres, em um mesmo dia, a treze do duodécimo mês (que é o mês de Adar), e que saqueassem o seu despojo.
14 Uma copia do escrito que se proclamasse lei em cada província era publicada a todos os povos, para que estivessem preparados para aquele dia.
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 Os correios, pois, impelidos pela palavra do rei, sairam, e a lei se proclamou na fortaleza de Susan: e o rei e Haman se assentaram a beber; porém a cidade de Susan estava confusa.
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].

< Ester 3 >