3:1After these things King Ahasuerus exalted Haman son of Hammedatha, who was of the stock of Agag: and he placed his throne above all the princes whom he had. 3:2And all the king's servants, who were busy at the doors of the palace, were bending their knees and worshipping Haman: for so the emperor had instructed them: Mordecai alone did not bend the knee, nor worship him. 3:3To him the king's servants, who presided at the doors of the palace, said: "Why, unlike the others, do you not observe the king's command?" 3:4And when they were saying this rather often, and he would not listen, they reported it to Haman, wishing to know whether he would persist in his resolve: for he had told them that he was a Jew.
3:5And when Haman had heard this, and had proved by trial that Mordecai did not bend the knee to him, nor worship him, he was very angry, and counted it as nothing to lay his hands on Mordecai alone: for he had heard that he was of the Jewish race; 3:6and he wished rather to destroy the whole nation of the Jews who were in the kingdom of Ahasuerus. 3:7In the first month (whose name is Nisan), in the twelfth year of the reign of Ahasuerus, the lot was cast into an urn, which in Hebrew is called pur, before Haman, on what day and in what month the race of the Jews should be killed: and the twelfth month came out, which is called Adar.
3:8And Haman said to King Ahasuerus: "There is a people scattered through all the provinces of your kingdom, and separated from one another, using new laws and ceremonies, and moreover despising the decrees of the king: and you know very well that it is not expedient for your kingdom that it should grow insolent through licence. 3:9If it pleases you, decree that it perish, and I will weigh out ten thousand talents to the treasurers of your treasury." 3:10So the king took the ring which he used from his hand, and gave it to Haman son of Hammedatha, of the line of Agag, the enemy of the Jews, and said to him: "The silver which you promise, let it be yours; 3:11concerning the people, do what pleases you."
3:12And the king's scribes were called in the first month, Nisan, on the thirteenth day of the same month: and it was written, as Haman had ordered, to all the king's satraps, and the judges of the provinces, and of the different nations, as each nation could read and hear according to the variety of tongues, in the name of King Ahasuerus: and the letters, sealed with his ring, were sent by the king's couriers to all the provinces, that they should kill and destroy all the Jews, from boy to old man, little ones and women, on one day, that is, the thirteenth of the twelfth month, which is called Adar; 3:13and that they should plunder their goods.
3:14Now the sum of the letters was this, that all the provinces should know, and prepare themselves for the aforesaid day. 3:15The couriers who had been sent hurried to fulfil the king's command. 3:15And at once in Susa the edict was hung up, the king and Haman celebrating a banquet, and all the Jews who were in the city weeping.