The In-Dept Study of the Bible
Esther 03
1 After these things King Ahasuerus promoted Haman the son of Hammedatha the
Agagite, and advanced him, and set his
seat above all the princes who were with
him.
2 All the king’s servants who were in the
king’s gate bowed down and paid homage
to Haman, for the king had so commanded
concerning him. But Mordecai didn’t bow
down or pay him homage.
3 Then the king’s servants who were in
the king’s gate said to Mordecai, “Why do
you disobey the king’s commandment?”
4 Now it came to pass, when they spoke
daily to him, and he didn’t listen to them,
that they told Haman, to see whether
Mordecai’s reason would stand; for he had
told them that he was a Jew.
5 When Haman saw that Mordecai didn’t
bow down nor pay him homage, Haman
was full of wrath.
6 But he scorned the thought of laying
hands on Mordecai alone, for they had
made known to him Mordecai’s people.
Therefore Haman sought to destroy all the
Jews who were throughoutthe whole kingdom of Ahasuerus,
even Mordecai’s people.
7 In the first month, which 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, and chose the twelfth month,
which is the month Adar.
8 Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There
is a certain people scattered abroad and
dispersed among the peoples in all the
provinces of your kingdom, and their laws
are different from other people’s. They
don’t keep the king’s laws. Therefore it is
not for the king’s profit to allow them to
remain.
9 If it pleases the king, let it be written
that they be destroyed; and I will pay ten
thousand talents† of silver into the hands
of those who are in charge of the king’s
business, to bring it into the king’s treasuries.”
10 The king took his ring from his hand,
and gave it to Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the Jews’ enemy.
11 The king said to Haman, “The silver is
given to you, the people also, to do with
them as it seems good to you.”
12 Then the king’s scribes were called
in on the first month, on the thirteenth
day of the month; and all that Haman
commanded was written to the king’s local
governors, and to the governors who were
over every province, and to the princes of
every people, to every province according
to its writing, and to every people in their
language. It was written in the name of
King Ahasuerus, and it was sealed with the
king’s ring.
13 Letters were sent by couriers into all
the king’s provinces, to destroy, to kill, and
to cause to perish, all Jews, both young and
old, little children and women, in one day,
even on the thirteenth day of the twelfth
month, which is the month Adar, and to
plunder their possessions.
14 A copy of the letter, that the decree
should be given out in every province, was published to all the peoples, that they
should be ready against that day.
15 The couriers went out in haste by the
king’s commandment, and the decree was
given out in the citadel of Susa. The king
and Haman sat down to drink; but the city
of Susa was perplexed.