Esther 3

3 ¹After this King Xerxes promoted Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, elevating him and raising his seat above all the officials with him. ²All the king's servants at the king's gate knelt and bowed to Haman, as the king ordered. But Mordecai would not kneel or bow. ³So the king's servants at the king's gate asked Mordecai, "Why do you disobey the king's command?" ⁴Day after day they urged him, but he refused; so they told Haman, to see if Mordecai's stand would hold, since he had told them he was a Jew. ⁵When Haman saw that Mordecai would not kneel or bow to him, he was filled with rage. ⁶Killing only Mordecai seemed beneath him, since they had told him who Mordecai's people were; so Haman sought to destroy all Mordecai's people, the Jews, throughout Xerxes's kingdom.

⁷In the first month, Nisan, in King Xerxes's twelfth year, they cast Pur (the lot) before Haman for each day and each month; and the lot fell on the twelfth month, Adar. ⁸Haman told King Xerxes, "A certain people is scattered and dispersed among the peoples throughout your kingdom's provinces. Their laws differ from everyone's, and they ignore the king's laws; it profits the king nothing to tolerate them. ⁹If it pleases the king, let it be written to destroy them; I'll weigh 375 tons of silver to his officials for the royal treasury."

¹⁰The king took off his signet ring and gave it to Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, enemy of the Jews. ¹¹"The silver is yours," the king told Haman, "and the people too—do with them as you please."

¹²On the first month's thirteenth day the king's scribes were summoned, and Haman's order was written to the king's satraps, the governors over each province, and the officials of every people—each province in its own script, each people its own language. Written in King Xerxes's name, sealed with his signet ring. ¹³Couriers carried letters to all the king's provinces: destroy, kill, and eliminate all Jews—young and old, women and children—in one day, thirteenth of the twelfth month, Adar, and seize their goods. ¹⁴A copy was to be issued as law in every province, shown to all peoples, so they would be ready for that day. ¹⁵At the king's command couriers rushed out, and the decree went out in the fortress of Susa. The king and Haman sat drinking, but the city of Susa was bewildered.