Haman’s Plot against the Jews
After these things King Ahasuerus made Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite great, and lifted him up, and set his seat above all the officials who were with him.
And all the king’s servants who were in the king’s gate were bowing and prostrating themselves to Haman, for so the king had commanded concerning him. But Mordecai would not bow, and would not prostrate himself.
And the king’s servants who were in the king’s gate said to Mordecai, “Why are you crossing the commandment of the king?”
And it happened, when they said this to him day after day and he did not listen to them, that they told Haman, to see whether Mordecai’s words would stand; for he had told them that he was a Jew.
And Haman saw that Mordecai was not bowing and prostrating himself to him, and Haman was filled with wrath.
And it was contemptible in his eyes to send a hand against Mordecai alone, for they had told him the people of Mordecai; and Haman sought to destroy all the Jews who were in all the kingdom of Ahasuerus — the people of Mordecai.
In the first month — that is the month Nisan — in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, they cast Pur, that is the lot, before Haman, from day to day and from month to month, to the twelfth month, that is the month Adar. And the lot fell on the thirteenth day of the month.
And Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is one people scattered and separated among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom; and their laws are different from every people, and the laws of the king they do not do. And for the king it is not worth leaving them be.
If it is good to the king, let it be written to destroy them; and ten thousand talents of silver I will weigh out on the hands of those who do the work, to bring into the king’s treasuries.”
And the king took off his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the adversary of the Jews.
And the king said to Haman, “The silver is given to you, and the people, to do with them as is good in your eyes.”
And the king’s scribes were called in the first month, on the thirteenth day of it, and it was written according to all that Haman commanded, to the king’s satraps, and to the governors who were over province and province, and to the officials of people and people — province and province according to its writing, and people and people according to its tongue. In the name of King Ahasuerus it was written, and sealed with the king’s signet ring.
And letters were sent by the hand of the runners to all the king’s provinces: to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate all the Jews, from young to old, children and women, in one day — on the thirteenth of the twelfth month, that is the month Adar — and their plunder to spoil.
A copy of the writing, to be given as law in province and province, was uncovered to all the peoples, so that they should be ready for that day.
The runners went out, hurried by the word of the king, and the law was given in Susa the fortress. And the king and Haman sat down to drink; and the city of Susa was bewildered.