The In-Dept Study of the Bible
Septuagint 03
1 After this, King Ahasuerus highly honored
Haman the son of Hammedatha, the
Bugaean. He exalted him and set his seat
above all his friends.
2 All in the palace bowed down to him,
for so the king had given orders to do; but
Mordecai didn’t bow down to him.
3 And they in the king’s palace said
to Mordecai, “Mordecai, why do you
transgress the commands of the king?”
4 They questioned him daily, but he
didn’t listen to them; so they reported to
Haman that Mordecai resisted the commands of
the king; and Mordecai had shown to them
that he was a Jew.
5 When Haman understood that Mordecai
didn’t bow down to him, he was greatly
enraged,
6 and plotted to utterly destroy all the
Jews who were under the rule of Ahasuerus.
7 In the twelfth year of the reign of Ahasuerus,
Haman made a decision by casting
lots by day and month, to kill the race of
Mordecai in one day. The lot fell on the
fourteenth day of the month of Adar.
8 So he spoke to King Ahasuerus, saying,
“There is a nation scattered among the
nations inall your kingdom, and their laws
differ from all the other nations. They
disobey the king’s laws. It is not expedient
for the king to tolerate them.
9 If it seem good to the king, let him
make a decree to destroy them, and I will
remitinto the king’s treasury ten thousand
talents of silver.”
10 So the king took off his ring, and gave
it into the hands of Haman to seal the
decrees against the Jews.
11 The king said to Haman, “Keep the
silver, and treat the nation as you will.”
12 So the king’s recorders were called in
the first month, on the thirteenth day, and
they wrote as Haman commanded to the
captains and governors in every province,
from India even to Ethiopia, to one hundred
twenty-seven provinces; and to the
rulers of the nations according to their
languages, in the name of King Ahasuerus.
13 The message was sent by couriers
throughout the kingdom of Ahasuerus, to
utterly destroy the race of the Jews on the
first day of the twelfth month, which is
Adar, and to plunder their goods.† [The
following is the copy of the letter. “From
the great King Ahasuerus to the rulers and
the governors under them of one hundred
twenty-seven provinces, from India even
toEthiopia, whoholdauthorityunderhim:
“Ruling over many nations and having
obtained dominion over the whole world,
I was determined (not elated by the confidence
of power, but ever conducting myself with great
moderation and gentleness) to make the lives of my
subjects continually tranquil, desiring both to maintain
the kingdom quiet and orderly to its utmost limits,
and to restore the peace desired by all men.
When I had asked my counselors how this should
be brought to pass, Haman, who excels in soundness of
judgment among us, and has been manifestly
well inclined without wavering and
with unshaken fidelity, and had obtained
the second post in the kingdom, informed
us that a certain ill-disposed people is
scattered among all the tribes throughout
the world, opposed in their law to every
other nation, and continually neglecting
the commands of the king, so that the
united government blamelessly administered
by us is not quietly established. Having
then conceived that this nation is continually
set in opposition to every man, introducing as
a change a foreign code of laws, and injuriously
plotting to accomplish the worst of evils against
our interests, and against the happy establishment
of the monarchy, we instruct you in the
letter written by Haman, who is set over
the public affairs and is our second governor,
to destroy them all utterly with their
wives and children by the swords of the
enemies, without pitying or sparing any,
on the fourteenth day ofthe twelfth month
Adar, of the present year; that the people
aforetime and now ill-disposed to us having
been violently consigned to death in
one day, may hereafter secure to us continually
a well constituted and quiet state of
affairs.”]
14 Copies of the letters were published in
every province; and an order was given to
all the nations to be ready for that day.
15 This business was hastened also in
Susa. The king and Haman began to drink,
but the city was confused.