1After these things, King Ahasuerus promoted Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite and elevated him, and he set his seat above all the officials who were with him.
2And all the king’s servants who were in the king’s gate would bow down and prostrate themselves to Haman, for so the king had commanded concerning him; but Mordecai would not bow down and would not prostrate himself.
3Then the king’s servants who were in the king’s gate said to Mordecai, “Why do you transgress the king’s command?”
4And it happened, as they spoke to him day after day and he would 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.
5When Haman saw that Mordecai was not bowing down and prostrating himself to him, Haman was filled with rage.
6But it seemed contemptible in his eyes to lay a hand on Mordecai alone, for they had told him the people of Mordecai; so Haman sought to destroy all the Jews, the people of Mordecai, who were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus.
7In the first month—that is, the month of 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, up to the twelfth month—that is, the month of Adar.
8Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom, and their laws are different from those of every people, and they do not keep the king’s laws; so it is not worthwhile for the king to leave them be.
9If it seems good to the king, let it be written that they be destroyed, and I will weigh out ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those who do the work, to bring into the king’s treasuries.”
10So the king removed his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews.
11And the king said to Haman, “The silver is given to you, and the people too, to do with them as seems good in your eyes.”
12Then the king’s scribes were summoned 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 each province, and to the officials of each people, to each province in its own script and to each people in its own language; in the name of King Ahasuerus it was written, and it was sealed with the king’s signet ring.
13And letters were sent by the hand of couriers to all the king’s provinces, to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate all the Jews, from young to old, children and women, in a single day—on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, that is, the month of Adar—and to plunder their spoil.
14A copy of the writing was to be issued as law in each province, published to all the peoples, that they be ready for that day.
15The couriers went out, driven in haste by the king’s word, and the decree was issued in Susa the citadel. And the king and Haman sat down to drink, but the city of Susa was in confusion.
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