Esther 3
3
Haman plans to destroy Mordecai
1Sometime later, King Ahasuerus promoted Haman, Hammedatha the Agagite’s son,#3.1 Or the braggart by promoting him above all the officials who worked with him. 2All the royal workers at the King’s Gate would kneel and bow facedown to Haman because the king had so ordered. But Mordecai didn’t kneel or bow down. 3So the royal workers at the King’s Gate said to Mordecai, “Why don’t you obey the king’s order?” 4Day after day they questioned him, but he paid no attention to them. So they let Haman know about it just to see whether or not Mordecai’s words would hold true.#3.4 Or stand (He had told them that he was a Jew.) 5When Haman himself saw that Mordecai didn’t kneel or bow down to him, he became very angry. 6But he decided not to kill only Mordecai, for people had told him Mordecai’s race. Instead, he planned to wipe out all the Jews, Mordecai’s people, throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus. 7In the first month (that is, the month of Nisan)#3.7 March–April in the twelfth year of the rule of King Ahasuerus, servants threw pur, namely, dice, in front of Haman to find the best day for his plan. They tried every day and every month, and the dice chose the thirteenth#3.7 See LXX and 3:13. day of the twelfth month (that is, the month of Adar).
8Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “A certain group of people exist in pockets among the other peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom. Their laws are different from those of everyone else, and they refuse to obey the king’s laws. There’s no good reason for the king to put up with them any longer. 9If the king wishes, let a written order be sent out to destroy them, and I will hand over ten thousand kikkars of silver#3.9 A kikkar weighed approximately seventy-five pounds. to those in charge of the king’s business. The silver can go into the king’s treasuries.”
10The king removed his royal ring from his finger and handed it to Haman, Hammedatha the Agagite’s son, enemy of the Jews. 11The king said to Haman, “Both the money and the people are under your power. Do as you like with them.” 12So in the first month, on the thirteenth day, royal scribes were summoned to write down everything that Haman ordered. The orders were for the king’s rulers and the governors in charge of each province, as well as for the officials of each people. They wrote in the alphabet of each province and in the language of each people. They wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed the order with the king’s royal ring. 13Fast runners were to take the order to all the provinces of the king. The order commanded people to wipe out, kill, and destroy all the Jews, both young and old, even women and little children. This was to happen on a single day—the thirteenth day of the twelfth month (that is, the month of Adar).#3.13 February–March They were also to seize their property. 14A copy of the order was to become law in each province and to be posted in public for all peoples to read. The people were to be ready for this day to do as the order commanded. 15Driven by the king’s order, the runners left Susa just as the law became public in the fortified part of Susa. While the king and Haman sat down to have a drink, the city of Susa was in total shock.
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Esther 3: CEB
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