Haman’s Plot to Destroy the Jews

3 After these events, King Xerxes honored Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite,^(A) elevating him and giving him a seat of honor higher than that of all the other nobles. ² All the royal officials at the king’s gate knelt down and paid honor to Haman, for the king had commanded this concerning him. But Mordecai would not kneel down or pay him honor.

³ Then the royal officials at the king’s gate asked Mordecai, “Why do you disobey the king’s command?”^{(B) 4} Day after day they spoke to him but he refused to comply.^(C) Therefore they told Haman about it to see whether Mordecai’s behavior would be tolerated, for he had told them he was a Jew.

⁵ When Haman saw that Mordecai would not kneel down or pay him honor, he was enraged.^{(D) 6} Yet having learned who Mordecai’s people were, he scorned the idea of killing only Mordecai. Instead Haman looked for a way^(E) to destroy^(F) all Mordecai’s people, the Jews,^(G) throughout the whole kingdom of Xerxes.

⁷ In the twelfth year of King Xerxes, in the first month, the month of Nisan, the pur^(H) (that is, the lot^(I)) was cast in the presence of Haman to select a day and month. And the lot fell on^[a] the twelfth month, the month of Adar.^(J)

⁸ Then Haman said to King Xerxes, “There is a certain people dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom who keep themselves separate. Their customs^(K) are different from those of all other people, and they do not obey^(L) the king’s laws; it is not in the king’s best interest to tolerate them.^{(M) 9} If it pleases the king, let a decree be issued to destroy them, and I will give ten thousand talents^[b] of silver to the king’s administrators for the royal treasury.”^(N)

¹⁰ So the king took his signet ring^(O) from his finger and gave it to Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews. ¹¹ “Keep the money,” the king said to Haman, “and do with the people as you please.”

¹² Then on the thirteenth day of the first month the royal secretaries were summoned. They wrote out in the script of each province and in the language^(P) of each people all Haman’s orders to the king’s satraps, the governors of the various provinces and the nobles of the various peoples. These were written in the name of King Xerxes himself and sealed^(Q) with his own ring. ¹³ Dispatches were sent by couriers to all the king’s provinces with the order to destroy, kill and annihilate all the Jews^(R)—young and old, women and children—on a single day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar,^(S) and to plunder^(T) their goods. ¹⁴ A copy of the text of the edict was to be issued as law in every province and made known to the people of every nationality so they would be ready for that day.^(U)

¹⁵ The couriers went out, spurred on by the king’s command, and the edict was issued in the citadel of Susa.^(V) The king and Haman sat down to drink,^(W) but the city of Susa was bewildered.^(X)

⁸ He also gave him a copy of the text of the edict for their annihilation, which had been published in Susa, to show to Esther and explain it to her, and he told him to instruct her to go into the king’s presence to beg for mercy and plead with him for her people.

⁶ As they were drinking wine,^(A) the king again asked Esther, “Now what is your petition? It will be given you. And what is your request? Even up to half the kingdom,^(B) it will be granted.”^(C)

⁷ Esther replied, “My petition and my request is this: ⁸ If the king regards me with favor^(D) and if it pleases the king to grant my petition and fulfill my request, let the king and Haman come tomorrow to the banquet^(E) I will prepare for them. Then I will answer the king’s question.”

Haman’s Rage Against Mordecai

⁹ Haman went out that day happy and in high spirits. But when he saw Mordecai at the king’s gate and observed that he neither rose nor showed fear in his presence, he was filled with rage^(F) against Mordecai.^{(G) 10} Nevertheless, Haman restrained himself and went home.

Calling together his friends and Zeresh,^(H) his wife,

Haman Impaled

7 So the king and Haman went to Queen Esther’s banquet,^{(A) 2} and as they were drinking wine^(B) on the second day, the king again asked, “Queen Esther, what is your petition? It will be given you. What is your request? Even up to half the kingdom,^(C) it will be granted.^(D)”

³ Then Queen Esther answered, “If I have found favor^(E) with you, Your Majesty, and if it pleases you, grant me my life—this is my petition. And spare my people—this is my request. ⁴ For I and my people have been sold to be destroyed, killed and annihilated.^(F) If we had merely been sold as male and female slaves, I would have kept quiet, because no such distress would justify disturbing the king.^[a]”

⁵ King Xerxes asked Queen Esther, “Who is he? Where is he—the man who has dared to do such a thing?”

⁶ Esther said, “An adversary and enemy! This vile Haman!”

Then Haman was terrified before the king and queen.

9 On the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar,^(A) the edict commanded by the king was to be carried out. On this day the enemies of the Jews had hoped to overpower them, but now the tables were turned and the Jews got the upper hand^(B) over those who hated them.^{(C) 2} The Jews assembled in their cities^(D) in all the provinces of King Xerxes to attack those determined to destroy them. No one could stand against them,^(E) because the people of all the other nationalities were afraid of them. ³ And all the nobles of the provinces, the satraps, the governors and the king’s administrators helped the Jews,^(F) because fear of Mordecai had seized them.^{(G) 4} Mordecai^(H) was prominent^(I) in the palace; his reputation spread throughout the provinces, and he became more and more powerful.^(J)

⁵ The Jews struck down all their enemies with the sword, killing and destroying them,^(K) and they did what they pleased to those who hated them. ⁶ In the citadel of Susa, the Jews killed and destroyed five hundred men. ⁷ They also killed Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha, ⁸ Poratha, Adalia, Aridatha, ⁹ Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai and Vaizatha, ¹⁰ the ten sons^(L) of Haman son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews.^(M) But they did not lay their hands on the plunder.^(N)

¹¹ The number of those killed in the citadel of Susa was reported to the king that same day. ¹² The king said to Queen Esther, “The Jews have killed and destroyed five hundred men and the ten sons of Haman in the citadel of Susa. What have they done in the rest of the king’s provinces? Now what is your petition? It will be given you. What is your request? It will also be granted.”^(O)

¹³ “If it pleases the king,” Esther answered, “give the Jews in Susa permission to carry out this day’s edict tomorrow also, and let Haman’s ten sons^(P) be impaled^(Q) on poles.”

¹⁴ So the king commanded that this be done. An edict was issued in Susa, and they impaled^(R) the ten sons of Haman. ¹⁵ The Jews in Susa came together on the fourteenth day of the month of Adar, and they put to death in Susa three hundred men, but they did not lay their hands on the plunder.^(S)

¹⁶ Meanwhile, the remainder of the Jews who were in the king’s provinces also assembled to protect themselves and get relief^(T) from their enemies.^(U) They killed seventy-five thousand of them^(V) but did not lay their hands on the plunder.^{(W) 17} This happened on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar, and on the fourteenth they rested and made it a day of feasting^(X) and joy.

¹⁸ The Jews in Susa, however, had assembled on the thirteenth and fourteenth, and then on the fifteenth they rested and made it a day of feasting and joy.

¹⁹ That is why rural Jews—those living in villages—observe the fourteenth of the month of Adar^(Y) as a day of joy and feasting, a day for giving presents to each other.^(Z)

Purim Established

²⁰ Mordecai recorded these events, and he sent letters to all the Jews throughout the provinces of King Xerxes, near and far, ²¹ to have them celebrate annually the fourteenth and fifteenth days of the month of Adar ²² as the time when the Jews got relief^(AA) from their enemies, and as the month when their sorrow was turned into joy and their mourning into a day of celebration.^(AB) He wrote them to observe the days as days of feasting and joy and giving presents of food^(AC) to one another and gifts to the poor.^(AD)

²³ So the Jews agreed to continue the celebration they had begun, doing what Mordecai had written to them. ²⁴ For Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite,^(AE) the enemy of all the Jews, had plotted against the Jews to destroy them and had cast the pur^(AF) (that is, the lot^(AG)) for their ruin and destruction.^{(AH) 25} But when the plot came to the king’s attention,^[a] he issued written orders that the evil scheme Haman had devised against the Jews should come back onto his own head,^(AI) and that he and his sons should be impaled^(AJ) on poles.^{(AK) 26} (Therefore these days were called Purim, from the word pur.^(AL)) Because of everything written in this letter and because of what they had seen and what had happened to them, ²⁷ the Jews took it on themselves to establish the custom that they and their descendants and all who join them should without fail observe these two days every year, in the way prescribed and at the time appointed. ²⁸ These days should be remembered and observed in every generation by every family, and in every province and in every city. And these days of Purim should never fail to be celebrated by the Jews—nor should the memory of these days die out among their descendants.

²⁹ So Queen Esther, daughter of Abihail,^(AM) along with Mordecai the Jew, wrote with full authority to confirm this second letter concerning Purim. ³⁰ And Mordecai sent letters to all the Jews in the 127 provinces^(AN) of Xerxes’ kingdom—words of goodwill and assurance— ³¹ to establish these days of Purim at their designated times, as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther had decreed for them, and as they had established for themselves and their descendants in regard to their times of fasting^(AO) and lamentation.^{(AP) 32} Esther’s decree confirmed these regulations about Purim, and it was written down in the records.

The Greatness of Mordecai

10 King Xerxes imposed tribute throughout the empire, to its distant shores.^{(AQ) 2} And all his acts of power and might, together with a full account of the greatness of Mordecai,^(AR) whom the king had promoted,^(AS) are they not written in the book of the annals^(AT) of the kings of Media and Persia? ³ Mordecai the Jew was second^(AU) in rank^(AV) to King Xerxes,^(AW) preeminent among the Jews, and held in high esteem by his many fellow Jews, because he worked for the good of his people and spoke up for the welfare of all the Jews.^(AX)