¹⁹ I had been like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter;^(A) I did not realize that they had plotted^(B) against me, saying,

The Guard at the Tomb

⁶² The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. ⁶³ “Sir,” they said, “we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’^{(A) 64} So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body^(B) and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first.”

⁶⁵ “Take a guard,”^(C) Pilate answered. “Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.” ⁶⁶ So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal^(D) on the stone^(E) and posting the guard.^(F)

²⁵ He will speak against the Most High^(A) and oppress his holy people^(B) and try to change the set times^(C) and the laws. The holy people will be delivered into his hands for a time, times and half a time.^[a](D)

⁶ Yet having learned who Mordecai’s people were, he scorned the idea of killing only Mordecai. Instead Haman looked for a way^(A) to destroy^(B) all Mordecai’s people, the Jews,^(C) throughout the whole kingdom of Xerxes.

⁷ In the twelfth year of King Xerxes, in the first month, the month of Nisan, the pur^(D) (that is, the lot^(E)) 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.^(F)

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^(G) are different from those of all other people, and they do not obey^(H) the king’s laws; it is not in the king’s best interest to tolerate them.^{(I) 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.”^(J)

¹⁰ Come, we must deal shrewdly^(A) with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country.”^(B)