Esther 3

¹ After these things king Xerxes magnified Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite; he advanced him and put his covered seat above all the other chief officials who were with him. ² All the king's courtiers in the king's gateway were bowing down and prostrating themselves before Haman; for so were the instructions the king had given concerning him. As for Mordecai, he did neither bow down nor prostrate himself. ³ So the king's courtiers in the king's gateway said to Mordecai: "For what reason are you trespassing the king's instruction?" ⁴ Then it came to be, when they had spoken to him day after day and he had not hearkened to them, that they told Haman in order to see whether Mordecai's affairs would persist; for he had professed to them that he was a Jew. ⁵ When Haman saw that Mordecai was not bowing down nor prostrating himself before him, Haman was filled with fury. ⁶ But it was despicable in his eyes to lay hand on Mordecai alone (for they had told him about Mordecai's people); so Haman sought out to exterminate all the Jews, Mordecai's people, who were in the entire kingdom of Xerxes. ⁷ In the first month, that is, the month of Nisan, in the twelfth year of king Xerxes, someone cast pur (that is, the lot) before Haman from day to day and from month to month, to the twelfth, that is, the month of Adar. ⁸ Then Haman said to king Xerxes: "There is a certain people dispersed and parted among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom; and their edicts are diverse from any other people. They are not obeying the king's edicts, and for the king it is not appropriate to tolerate them. ⁹ If it seems good to the king, it may be written to destroy them; and for the hands of those doing the work I shall weigh out ten thousand silver talents to bring to the king's depositories." ¹⁰ So the king withdrew his ring from his hand and gave it to Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the foe of the Jews. ¹¹ And the king said to Haman: "The silver be given to you, also the people, to do with them according to what is well-pleasing in your eyes." ¹² Then the king's scribes were called in the first month, on the thirteenth day of it. According to all the instructions that Haman had given, it was written to the king's satraps, to the viceroys who were over the different provinces, and to the chief officials of the different peoples, to each province in its own provincial writing, and to each people in its own popular tongue. It was written in the name of king Xerxes and was sealed with the king's ring. ¹³ Letters were sent by means of couriers to all the king's provinces, to exterminate, to kill and to destroy all the Jews from youth unto old age, both little ones and women, on a single day, the thirteenth of the twelfth month (that is, the month of Adar), and to plunder the loot of them. ¹⁴ A transcript of the written text was to be promulgated as an edict in all the different provinces and was to be revealed to all the peoples, namely, to become equipped for this day. ¹⁵ The couriers rode forth posthaste by order of the king, and the edict was promulgated in the castle of Susa. Then the king and Haman sat down to drink, but Susa city was doleful.