3:1 After these events King Ahasuerus honored Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, and promoted him and ①established his authority over all the officials who were with him.
▷ ①Lit set his seat
3:2 All the king’s servants who were at the king’s gate bowed down and paid ①homage to Haman; for so the king had commanded regarding him. But Mordecai neither bowed down nor paid ②homage.
▷ ①I.e., great respect and honor to a superior ②I.e., great respect and honor to a superior
3:3 Then the king’s servants who were at the king’s gate said to Mordecai, “Why are you violating the king’s command?”
3:4 Now it was when they had spoken daily to him and he would not listen to them, that they told Haman to see whether Mordecai’s reason would ①stand; for he had told them that he was a Jew.
▷ ①I.e., as valid
3:5 When Haman saw that Mordecai neither bowed down nor paid ①homage to him, Haman was filled with rage.
▷ ①I.e., great respect and honor to a superior
3:6 But he ①considered it beneath his dignity to ②kill Mordecai alone, for they had told him who the people of Mordecai were; so Haman sought to annihilate all the Jews, the people of Mordecai, who were found throughout the kingdom of Ahasuerus.
▷ ①Lit despised in his eyes ②Lit send a hand against
3:7 In the first month, which is the month Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, ①Pur, that is the lot, was cast before Haman from day to day and from month to month, ②until the twelfth month, that is the month Adar.
▷ ①Lit he cast Pur...before ②LXX and the lot fell on the thirteenth day of
3:8 Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom; their laws are different from those of all other people and they do not ①comply with the king’s laws, so it is not in the king’s interest to let them remain.
▷ ①Lit do the
3:9 If it is pleasing to the king, let it be ①decreed that they be eliminated, and I will pay ②ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those who carry out the king’s business, to put into the king’s treasuries.”
▷ ①Lit written ②About 375 tons or 340 metric tons
3:10 Then the king took his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews.
3:11 And the king said to Haman, “The silver is ①yours, and the people also, to do with them as you please.”
▷ ①Lit given to you
3:12 Then the king’s scribes were summoned on the thirteenth day of the first month, and it was written just as Haman commanded to the king’s satraps, to the governors who were over each province and to the officials of each people, each province according to its script, each people according to its language, being written in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed with the king’s signet ring.
3:13 Letters were sent by couriers to all the king’s provinces to annihilate, kill, and destroy all the Jews, both young and old, women and children, in one day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, and to seize their possessions as plunder.
3:14 A copy of the edict to be ①issued as law in every province was published to all the peoples so that they would be ready for this day.
▷ ①Lit given
3:15 The couriers went out, speeded by the king’s ①order while the decree was ②issued at the citadel in Susa; and while the king and Haman sat down to drink, the city of Susa was agitated.
▷ ①Lit word ②Lit given