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21 (A)During the time that Mordecai spent at the king’s gate, Bigthan and Teresh, two of the royal eunuchs who guarded the entrance, became angry and plotted to assassinate King Ahasuerus.

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All the king’s servants who were at the royal gate would kneel and bow down to Haman, for that is what the king had ordered in his regard.(A) Mordecai, however, would not kneel and bow down.[a] The king’s servants who were at the royal gate said to Mordecai, “Why do you disobey the king’s order?”(B)

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Footnotes

  1. 3:2 We are not told the reasons for Mordecai’s refusal to bow. It may be the result of a form of Jewish piety that refuses to offer such homage to any mortal; see also Greek addition C:5–7.

Haman’s Plot Against Mordecai. That day Haman left happy and in good spirits. But when he saw that Mordecai at the royal gate did not rise, and showed no fear of him, he was filled with anger toward him.(A)

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13 Yet none of this satisfies me as long as I continue to see the Jew Mordecai sitting at the royal gate.”(A)

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