Esther
Chapter 3
1 After this, King Ahasuerus promoted Haman, son of Hammedatha the Agagite, raised his rank, and gave him a higher seat than all the other princes with him.
2 All the king’s workers at the king’s gate bowed and showed respect to Haman because the king ordered it. But Mordecai did not bow or show him respect.
3 The king’s servants at the king’s gate asked Mordecai, “Why are you disobeying the king’s order?”
4 Every day they spoke to him, but he did not listen. So they told Haman to see if Mordecai’s behavior would be accepted because he had told them he was a Jew.
5 When Haman noticed that Mordecai did not bow or show him respect, Haman became very angry.
6 He thought it was not enough to hurt only Mordecai; after learning about Mordecai’s people, Haman wanted to kill all the Jews in King Ahasuerus’s kingdom.
7 In the first month, named Nisan, during King Ahasuerus’s twelfth year, they threw dice every day and each month to decide the day, until the last month, called Adar.
8 Haman told King Ahasuerus, “A certain group of people are spread out and scattered among the citizens in all the regions of your kingdom; their rules are different from everyone else’s and they don’t follow the king’s rules: so it’s not good for the king to let them be.”
9 If the king agrees, let an order be written to kill them, and I will give ten thousand silver coins to the officials to put into the king’s treasury.
10 The king took his ring off his hand and gave it to Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews.
11 The king told Haman, “The money is yours, and the people too. You can do with them what you think is best.”
12 On the thirteenth day of the first month, the king’s writers were brought in. They wrote down everything Haman ordered for the king’s officers, the leaders of each province, and the heads of each people in their own script and language. This was done in King Ahasuerus’s name and sealed with his ring.
13 Messages were sent by couriers to all the king’s regions to wipe out, kill, and eliminate all Jews—old and young, children and women—on the same day, the thirteenth of the twelfth month, the month of Adar, and to plunder their belongings.
14 The message about the order was shared in every area to tell everyone to prepare for that day.
15 The messengers rushed out with the king’s orders, and the law was announced in Susa, the capital. The king and Haman sat down to have drinks, while the people of Susa were confused.