³ Now Esther spoke again to the king, fell down at his feet, and implored him with tears to counteract the evil of Haman the Agagite, and the scheme which he had devised against the Jews.

⁷ who, in the days of His flesh, when He had ^(A)offered up prayers and supplications, ^(B)with vehement cries and tears to Him ^(C)who was able to save Him from death, and was heard ^(D)because of His godly fear,

² Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, and prayed to the Lord,

⁴ For we have been ^(A)sold, my people and I, to be destroyed, to be killed, and to be annihilated. Had we been sold as ^(B)male and female slaves, I would have held my tongue, although the enemy could never compensate for the king’s loss.”

⁸ Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the people in all the provinces of your kingdom; ^(A)their laws are different from all other people’s, and they do not keep the king’s laws. Therefore it is not fitting for the king to let them remain. ⁹ If it pleases the king, let a decree be written that they be destroyed, and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those who do the work, to bring it into the king’s treasuries.”

¹⁰ So the king ^(B)took ^(C)his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the ^(D)enemy of the Jews. ¹¹ And the king said to Haman, “The money and the people are given to you, to do with them as seems good to you.”

^12 (E)Then the king’s scribes were called on the thirteenth day of the first month, and a decree was written according to all that Haman commanded—to the king’s satraps, to the governors who were over each province, to the officials of all people, to every province ^(F)according to its script, and to every people in their language. ^(G)In the name of King Ahasuerus it was written, and sealed with the king’s signet ring. ¹³ And the letters were ^(H)sent by couriers into all the king’s provinces, to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate all the Jews, both young and old, little children and women, ^(I)in one day, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar, and ^(J)to plunder their ^[a]possessions. ^14 (K)A copy of the document was to be issued as law in every province, being published for all people, that they should be ready for that day. ¹⁵ The couriers went out, hastened by the king’s command; and the decree was proclaimed in ^[b]Shushan the ^[c]citadel. So the king and Haman sat down to drink, but ^(L)the city of Shushan was ^[d]perplexed.

²⁷ Now when she came to the man of God at the hill, she caught him by the feet, but Gehazi came near to push her away. But the man of God said, “Let her alone; for her soul is in deep distress, and the Lord has hidden it from me, and has not told me.”

²⁴ So she fell at his feet and said: “On me, my lord, on me let this iniquity be! And please let your maidservant ^[a]speak in your ears, and hear the words of your maidservant.