Old/New Testament

Haman is angry with Mordecai

3 After some time, King Xerxes gave one of his officers greater authority. The officer's name was Haman. He was the son of Hammedatha, a descendant of Agag. Haman became the most important officer who served the king. ² The king commanded that all the royal officers at the king's gate must bend down low down to Haman. So they all gave Haman honour when he passed them. Only Mordecai would not bend down and give honour to Haman.^[a]

³ The officers at the king's gate asked Mordecai, ‘Why do you not obey the king's command?’ ⁴ They warned Mordecai every day. But he would not agree to bend down low to Haman. So the officers told Haman about this. Mordecai had told them that he was a Jew. So they wanted to know if Haman would let Mordecai do this.

⁵ When Haman realized that Mordecai would not give him honour, he became very angry. ⁶ But he did not want to destroy only Mordecai. Now he knew that Mordecai was a Jew, he decided to destroy all the Jews who lived in Xerxes' whole kingdom.

Haman decides to kill all the Jews

⁷ Haman asked his advisors when would be the right time to make this happen. He asked them in the first month of the year (Nisan), during Xerxes' 12th year as king. Haman's advisors threw dice to decide the right time to destroy the Jews. The dice chose the 12th month of the year (Adar). The dice were called ‘Purim’.

⁸ Then Haman said to King Xerxes, ‘There is a group of people who live in many regions of your kingdom. They have different customs to all the other people. They refuse to obey the laws of your kingdom. It is not good for you to let them live among all the other people in your kingdom. ⁹ If you agree, we should send out a command to destroy them. Then I will give 350 tons of silver to the king, so that your officers can do this work.’^[b]

¹⁰ The king took his special ring from his finger and he gave it to Hammedatha's son, Haman, the Jews' great enemy.^{[c] 11} He said to Haman, ‘Keep your money. You should do anything that you want with these people.’

¹² On the 13th day of the first month, Haman asked the king's secretaries to come to him. They wrote Haman's commands in letters to the king's rulers and officers in every region. They wrote the letters in the languages that people spoke in the different regions. Haman used the authority of King Xerxes and he marked the letters with the king's special ring.^[d]

¹³ Men delivered the letters to all the regions of the kingdom. Haman's command said that on the 13th day of the 12th month (Adar) people should completely destroy and kill all the Jews. They should kill old people and young people, women and children. Then they should take all the Jews' valuable things for themselves. ¹⁴ Haman sent copies of his command to every region, so that it would be read aloud to the people. Everyone would know what the law said, and everyone would be ready on the right day.

¹⁵ King Xerxes told his men to take the letters quickly to all the people. They also read the law to the people in Susa city. Then Haman and the king sat down to drink wine together. But the people in the city were very upset.

Mordecai asks Queen Esther to help the Jews

4 Mordecai discovered what Haman had done. He tore his clothes and he dressed in sackcloth and ashes, because he was very upset. He went into the city. He cried and he wept loudly as he went.

² Nobody who was wearing sackcloth could go into the yard of the palace. So Mordecai stopped at the king's gate. ³ Jews who lived in all the regions of Xerxes' kingdom heard the king's command. So they were very sad. They were weeping and they were fasting.^[e] Many of them lay on sackcloth and ashes.

⁴ Esther's female servants the eunuchs who took care of her told her what Mordecai was doing. So Esther was very upset. She sent clothes for Mordecai to put on instead of the sackcloth, but Mordecai refused to wear them. ⁵ Hathach was one of the king's eunuchs who served Esther. Esther asked him to discover what was the matter with Mordecai.^[f]

⁶ So Hathach went to speak to Mordecai. Mordecai was outside the king's gate, in an open place. ⁷ Mordecai told Hathach everything that had happened. He told Hathach how much money Haman would pay to the king when people destroyed all the Jews.^{[g] 8} Mordecai gave Hathach a copy of the law that they had read aloud to the people in Susa. He told Hathach to show the law to Esther and explain it to her. Mordecai also said that Esther must go and speak to the king. She must ask the king to let her people live.

⁹ Hathach went back into the palace. He told Esther what Mordecai had said. ¹⁰ Then Esther sent Hathach back to Mordecai with this message: ¹¹ ‘Everybody knows the law. People cannot go to meet the king in his own part of the palace unless the king asks them to come. All the king's officers and all his people know that that is the law. If somebody decides to go to the king when the king has not asked to see him, that person must die. He will only stay alive if the king holds out his gold sceptre towards him. As for me, the king has not asked me to go to him for the last 30 days.’^[h]

¹² When Mordecai heard this message from Esther, ¹³ he sent this answer back to her: ‘Do not think that you will be safe because you live in the king's palace. You will not escape when they kill all the other Jews. ¹⁴ You must speak now on behalf of all the Jewish people. If you do not, they will receive help from another place to make them safe and free. Then you and your father's family will come to an end. But I think that perhaps you have become queen so that you can help at a time like this.’^[i]

¹⁵ Then Esther sent this answer to Mordecai: ¹⁶ ‘Tell all the Jews in Susa to meet together. Tell them to fast and to pray for me. They must not eat or drink for three days, during the day and the night. My female servants and I will also do that. After three days, I will go and speak to the king. I know that I will do that against the king's law. But if I must die because of that, I agree to die.’

¹⁷ Then Mordecai left the king's gate. He did everything that Esther had told him to do.

Esther goes to the king

5 After they had fasted for three days, Esther put on her royal clothes. She went to King Xerxes' part of the palace. She stood in the yard outside his rooms. The king was sitting on his royal throne. He could see through the door of the room where he sat. ² The king saw Esther as she stood outside in the yard. He was pleased to see her. He held out his gold sceptre towards her. Esther came near to him and she touched the top of the sceptre.

³ The king asked her, ‘What is your trouble, Queen Esther? I will do for you whatever you want. I will even give you half of my kingdom!’

⁴ Esther replied, ‘If the king agrees, I would like you to do this. I would like the king and Haman to come to a special meal that I have prepared for you.’

⁵ The king said to his servants, ‘Bring Haman here quickly. Then we can do what Esther wants.’

The king and Haman went to the meal that Esther had prepared. ⁶ When they were drinking wine, the king asked Esther, ‘What do you want? I will give you whatever you want. What do you want me to do for you? Even if you want half of my kingdom, I will give it to you.’

⁷ Esther replied, ‘This is what I want. ⁸ If the king is pleased with me, and if you agree, please do what I ask. I would like the king and Haman to come again tomorrow. Come to another meal that I will prepare for you. Then I will tell you what I want, as you have asked me to do.’

Mordecai makes Haman angry again

⁹ When Haman went from Queen Esther's meal that day, he was very happy. But then he saw Mordecai at the king's gate. When Haman passed him, Mordecai did not get up. He did not show that he respected Haman in any way. So Haman became very angry with Mordecai. ¹⁰ Haman did not show that he was angry at that time. He went home.

Then Haman told his friends and Zeresh, his wife, to meet with him. ¹¹ Haman told them how rich he was, and how many sons he had. He told them of all the things that the king had done to give him great honour. He told them that he was now more important than all the king's other rulers and officers. ¹² Haman said to them, ‘Queen Esther asked me to go with the king to a special meal that she had prepared. We were the only people who ate with her. Now the queen has asked me to go with the king to another meal tomorrow. ¹³ But even all these things do not make me happy. I am angry when I see that Jewish man Mordecai. He is sitting at the king's gate.’

¹⁴ Haman's wife and all his friends said to him, ‘This will make you happy. Tell your men to build a wooden tower that is 22 metres high. In the morning, tell the king to hang Mordecai on the tower to kill him. Then you will enjoy Queen Esther's special meal.’

Haman liked their idea very much. So he told his men to build the tall tower.^[j]

²² But when the police arrived at the prison, they did not find the apostles there. So the police returned to the Jewish leaders and they told them the news. ²³ They said, ‘We arrived at the prison. We saw that the soldiers had locked the gates. They were standing at the gates and they were watching carefully. But when we opened the gates of the prison, we did not find anyone there!’^[a]

²⁴ The leader of the police of the temple and the leaders of the priests heard the news. They could not understand what had happened. They were afraid of what might happen next.

²⁵ Then a man came to the leaders. He said to them, ‘Listen! Those men that you put in the prison are now standing in the yard of the temple. They are teaching the people there.’ ²⁶ So the leader of the police took his men with him to find the apostles. They took hold of the apostles to take them back to the Jewish leaders. But they did not hurt them because they were afraid of the people. They thought that the people might be angry. They might throw stones at them to kill them.

²⁷ The police brought the apostles into the meeting room. They made them stand in front of the group of Jewish leaders. The most important priest said to the apostles, ²⁸ ‘We told you that you must not teach people any more with the authority of Jesus. But now look at what you have done! Now people everywhere in Jerusalem have heard your teaching. You also want people to think that we are guilty for the death of Jesus.’

²⁹ Peter and the other apostles answered, ‘We must obey God rather than obey people. ³⁰ You fixed Jesus to a cross so that he died. But then the God of our ancestors caused him to become alive again. ³¹ God raised Jesus and he put him in the most important place at his right side. Jesus is now the one who leads us and the one who saves us. He has made a way for the people of Israel to turn back to God. He wants us to stop doing wrong things. Then God will forgive us for our sins. ³² We tell people about what happened to Jesus. We ourselves saw these things. Now God has given his Holy Spirit to people who obey him. The Holy Spirit also shows that these things are true.’

³³ The group of Jewish leaders heard what the apostles said to them. They were so angry that they wanted to kill the apostles. ³⁴ But one man did not agree. He was called Gamaliel and he was a Pharisee, a teacher of the Law. All the people agreed that he was a good man. Gamaliel stood up in front of the group of Jewish leaders. He told the police to take the apostles out of the room. ³⁵ When they had gone, Gamaliel spoke to the group of leaders: ‘Men of Israel! Think carefully about what you want to do to these men. ³⁶ Remember what happened to Theudas a few years ago. That man told everyone, “I am a very important leader.” As a result, about 400 men joined his group. But then somebody killed him, and all his men went away. Nobody heard any more about them. ³⁷ Later, Judas from Galilee appeared at the time when the Romans were making a list of everyone's names.^[b] Many people also came to help him fight against the Romans. But somebody killed him. His men also ran away and nothing more happened.^[c]

³⁸ Now think about what is happening with these men. I tell you it would be better to leave them alone. Let them go free. If their message only comes from human ideas, all their work will fail. ³⁹ But perhaps what they are doing really does come from God himself. If that is true, then you cannot stop them. You might even find that you are fighting against God!’

⁴⁰ The Jewish leaders agreed with Gamaliel. They told the apostles to come back into the room. They told the police to hit them with whips. Then they said to the apostles, ‘You must not use the authority of Jesus to teach the people.’ After that, they let the apostles go free.^[d]

⁴¹ The apostles went away from the meeting of the Jewish leaders. They were very happy because they thought to themselves, ‘These leaders have done bad things to us because we obey Jesus. That shows that God accepts us as his people.’

⁴² Every day the apostles continued to teach people about Jesus. They spoke in people's homes and in the yard of the temple. All the time, they told people the good news that Jesus is God's Messiah.