Esther 3

International Standard Version

Haman is Promoted by Ahasuerus

3 Sometime later King Ahasuerus promoted Hammedatha the Agagite’s son Haman, elevating him to a position above^[a] all the other officials who were with him. ² All the king’s ministers^[b] who were in the king’s gate would kneel and bow down to Haman, because the king had commanded that Haman^[c] be honored in this way. Mordecai, however, would not kneel and would not bow down.

³ The king’s ministers^[d] who were in the king’s gate asked Mordecai, “Why are you disobeying the king’s command?” ⁴ They asked him this day after day, and he would not listen to them, so they told Haman to see whether or not Mordecai would get away with his disobedience,^[e] since he also had told them that he was Jewish. ⁵ When Haman saw that Mordecai would not kneel and bow down to him, he^[f] flew into a rage. ⁶ Because they had told him who the people of Mordecai were, Haman^[g] found it unacceptable^[h] to kill^[i] only Mordecai. So Haman sought to destroy all of Mordecai’s people, the Jewish people, who were in all the kingdom of Ahasuerus.

Haman’s Plot against the Jewish People

⁷ In the twelfth year of the reign of^[j] King Ahasuerus, in the first month (the month Nisan), the pur (that is, the lot) was cast in Haman’s presence to determine the best day and month to carry out his plot.^[k] The lot indicated the twelfth month, the month Adar.^{[l] 8} Then Haman told King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered and divided among the people throughout the provinces of your kingdom. Their laws are different than all the other people, they don’t obey the king’s laws, and it’s not in the king’s best interest^[m] to leave them alone. ⁹ If the king approves, let it be decreed^[n] that they’re to be destroyed, and I’ll measure out 10,000 silver talents^[o] and bring it to the king’s treasury for those who will do the work.”

¹⁰ The king removed his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Hammedatha the Agagite’s son Haman, the enemy of the Jewish people. ¹¹ The king told Haman, “The silver is given to you, along with the people, to do with them as you see fit.”

¹² The king’s scribes were summoned on the thirteenth day of the first month, and all that Haman commanded was written to the regional authorities^[p] of the king, to the governors who were over each province, and to the officials of each people. This order^[q] was translated in the name of King Ahasuerus into the language of each province^[r] and bore the seal of the king’s signet ring. ¹³ Letters were sent by couriers to all of the king’s provinces to annihilate, to kill, and to destroy all the Jewish people, both young and old, women and children, and to confiscate their goods^[s] on a single day—the thirteenth day of the twelfth month of Adar. ¹⁴ A copy of the letter was to be issued as an edict in every province and published to all the people, telling them^[t] to be ready for that day. ¹⁵ The couriers went out, urged on by the king’s command, and the edict was issued in Susa the capital. The king and Haman sat down to drink, while the city of Susa was thrown into confusion.