Greek Esther 3
3
Haman Plots to Destroy the Jews
1 Some time later King Xerxes honoured a man named Haman son of Hammedatha, a Bougaean, by promoting him to the position of prime minister. 2 The king ordered all the officials in his service to show their respect for Haman by bowing to him. They all did so, except Mordecai, who refused to bow to Haman. 3 The other officials in the king's service asked him why he was disobeying the king's command. 4 Day after day they urged him to give in, but he would not listen to them. “I am a Jew,” he explained, “and I cannot bow to Haman.” So they told Haman how Mordecai was disobeying the king's orders. 5 Haman was furious when he realized that Mordecai was not going to bow to him, 6 and so he made plans to kill every Jew in the whole Persian Empire.
7 In the twelfth year of King Xerxes' reign, Haman ordered the lots to be cast to find out the right day and month to destroy the Jews, all in a single day. The fourteenth day of the month of Adar was the date chosen.
8 So Haman told the king, “There is a certain race of people scattered among the nations all over your empire. They observe customs that are not like those of any other people. Moreover, they do not obey the laws of the empire, so it is not in your best interest to tolerate them. 9 If it please Your Majesty, issue a decree that they are to be put to death. If you do this, I promise to put 340 tonnes of silver into the royal treasury.”
10 The king took off his ring, which was used to stamp official proclamations, and gave it to Haman to seal the decree that was to be written against the Jews. 11 The king told him, “Keep the money, and do whatever you want with that race of people.”
12 So on the thirteenth day of the first month, Haman called the king's secretaries and dictated a proclamation to be translated into every language in the empire and to be sent to all rulers and governors. It was issued in the name of King Xerxes and sent to all the 127 provinces, which stretched from India to Sudan. 13 Runners took this proclamation to every province of the empire. It contained the instructions that on a single day in the twelfth month, the month of Adar, all Jews were to be killed and their belongings confiscated.#3.13 Chapter 3 continues after Chapter B.
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Greek Esther 3: GNBDC
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Good News Bible. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.