⁷ In the first month (that is the month of Nisan), in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, they cast the pur (that is, ‘the lot’) in the presence of Haman from day to day and month to month, up to the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar.

⁸ Haman then said to King Ahasuerus: “There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom whose laws differ from those of every other people and who do not obey the king’s laws. It is not in the king’s interest to tolerate them. ⁹ If it pleases the king, let an edict be written to destroy them. I will pay 10,000 talents of silver into the hands of those who carry out this business, to put it into the king’s treasuries.”

¹⁰ The king took his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman—son of Hammedatha the Agagite—enemy of the Jews. ¹¹ The king said to Haman, “The silver and the people are yours—do with them as you please.”

¹² The king’s scribes were summoned in the first month, on the thirteenth day, and an edict was written as Haman had commanded. Everything Haman commanded was written to the king’s provincial governors, and to the officials who were in every province, and to the officials of every people, province by province, according to its script and people by people according to its language. It was written in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed with the king’s ring.