Esther 3

After these things, King Ahasuerus promoted Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite. He exalted him and set his seat above all the officials who were with him. All the king's servants at the king's gate would kneel and bow down to Haman, for the king had so commanded concerning him. But Mordecai would neither kneel nor bow down. The king's servants at the king's gate said to Mordecai, “Why are you disobeying the king's command?” They spoke to him day after day, but he would not listen to them. So they told Haman, to see whether Mordecai's words would stand, for he had told them that he was a Jew. When Haman saw that Mordecai would neither kneel nor bow down to him, Haman was filled with rage. He considered it beneath him to lay hands on Mordecai alone, for they had told him which people Mordecai belonged to. So Haman sought to destroy all the Jews throughout the kingdom of Ahasuerus, the people of Mordecai. In the first month, the month of Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, Pur—that is, the lot—was cast before Haman for each day and each month. It fell on the twelfth month, the month of Adar. Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom. Their laws are different from those of every other people, and they do not keep the king's laws. It is not in the king's interest to leave them alone. If it pleases the king, let their destruction be decreed, and I will weigh out about 375 tons of silver into the hands of those in charge of the work, to bring into the king's treasuries.” The king took his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews. The king said to Haman, “The silver is given to you, and the people as well, to do with them as you see fit.” The king's scribes were summoned on the thirteenth day of the first month. Everything Haman commanded was written to the king's satraps, to the governors over each province, and to the leaders of each people, to each province in its own script and to each people in its own language. It was written in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed with the king's signet ring. Letters were sent by couriers to all the king's provinces to destroy, kill, and annihilate all the Jews, young and old, children and women, in a single day—the thirteenth of the twelfth month, the month of Adar—and to plunder their goods. A copy of the document was to be issued as law in every province and made public to all the peoples, so that they would be ready for that day. The couriers went out in haste at the king's command, and the decree was issued in the citadel of Susa. The king and Haman sat down to drink, while the city of Susa was bewildered.

Rights and attribution