Esther 3

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1. 1After these things, King Ahasuerus promoted Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, and advanced him, and set his seat above all the princes that were with him.
2. 2And all the king's servants who were at the king's gate bowed and reverenced Haman, for the king had so commanded concerning him. But Mordecai did not bow or reverence him.
3. 3Then the king's servants who were at the king's gate said to Mordecai, "Why do you disobey the king's commandment?"
4. 4Now when they spoke to him day after day and he would not listen to them, they told Haman, to see whether Mordecai's matters would stand, for he had told them that he was a Jew.
5. 5When Haman saw that Mordecai did not bow or do him reverence, Haman was full of wrath.
6. 6And he thought it beneath him to lay hands on Mordecai alone, for they had shown him the people of Mordecai. So Haman sought to destroy all the Jews throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus, the people of Mordecai.
7. 7In the first month, 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, until the twelfth month, the month of Adar.
8. 8And 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 all people, and they do not keep the king's laws. Therefore it is not for the king's profit to tolerate them."
9. 9If it pleases the king, let a decree be written that they may be destroyed. I will pay ten thousand talents of silver to the officials in charge of this matter, to bring it into the king's treasuries.
10. 10And the king took his ring from his hand and gave it to Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the Jews' enemy.
11. 11And 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. 12Then the king's scribes were called on the thirteenth day of the first month. Everything Haman commanded was written to the king's officials, the governors over each province, and the leaders of every people in their own script and language. It was written in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed with the king's ring.
13. 13And the 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, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, and to take their plunder as spoil.
14. 14The copy of the writing, to be given as a commandment in every province, was published to all peoples, that they should be ready for that day.
15. 15The couriers went out, being hastened by the king's commandment, and the decree was given in Shushan the palace. And the king and Haman sat down to drink, but the city of Shushan was perplexed.