Esther 3

₁Later King Ahasuerus made Haman, son of Hammedatha, an important_official. Haman was a descendant of King Agag. King Ahasuerus said Haman was more important than the other officials and his chair was higher than the chairs of the other officials. ₂The king told all the officials in the palace to bow before Haman and to lie down on the ground before him. But Mordecai did not do it.

₃The other officials at the palace asked Mordecai: ‘Why don't you do what the king said? You must listen to him.’ ₄They talked to Mordecai every day but Mordecai told them that he would not bow before Haman because he was a Jew. When Mordecai did not want to listen, they told Haman that Mordecai did not want to bow before him.

₅Haman was very angry when Mordecai did not want to kneel and bow before him. ₆When they told Haman that Mordecai was a Jew, he said he did not want to punish Mordecai alone. He wanted to kill all the Jews in the lands where Ahasuerus was king. ₇Haman told his people to throw_the_pur, which was the same as drawing_lots. He did it in the first month, the month of Nisan in the 12th year after Ahasuerus had become king. He wanted to know which day and month would be the best to kill the Jews. The lots showed the 12th month, the month of Adar.

₈Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus: ‘There are a lot of people among the people living in the provinces where you are king and they do not have the same laws that other people have. Now they do not want to listen to the laws of the king. Your_Majesty, you must not let them go on like this. They can not keep on doing what they want to do. ₉Your_Majesty, if you think it is right, then you must make a law to kill all the Jews. Then I will give you 10 000 talents of silver that your officials can keep with your other money.’

₁₀The king took off his ring with his seal and he gave it to Haman, son of Hammedatha. Haman was a descendant of King Agag and he was an enemy of the Jews. ₁₁The king said to Haman: ‘You can keep the money and you can do with those people what you want.’

₁₂Haman called the king's secretaries on the 13th day of the first month. He told them to write letters to the chief_officials of the king and to the governors of each province and to the officials of each nation. They wrote letters in the language of each nation and in the way that the people of each province used to write. They wrote what Haman said and they wrote that these letters were written by King Ahasuerus and they put the seal of the king's ring on the letters. ₁₃There were fast messengers who took the letters to every province of the king. The letters said that the people must kill all the Jews, the young and old people, all the children and women, in one day. The king also said that the other people could take everything that belonged to the people of Judah. He said this must happen on the 13th day of the 12th month, the month of Adar.

₁₄They wrote a copy of the law for each of the provinces and sent it to them. Everyone had to know about it so that they would be ready on that day. ₁₅The king told the messengers to hurry and they did. When they told the people in the city of Susa what the king had decided, they were shocked and upset. But the king and Haman sat down and drank wine.