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these events, King Ahasuerus honoured Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, and he was promoted and given a seat of honour above all the other officials. 2 All the royal officials at the king’s gate bowed down and paid homage to Haman; for the king had commanded this concerning him. But Mordecai would not bow down or pay homage.
3 Then the royal officials at the king’s gate asked Mordecai, “Why are you disobeying the king’s command?” 4 They continued to warn him day after day but he would not listen to them. So they told Haman to see whether Mordecai’s actions would be tolerated; for he had told them that he was a Jew.
5 When Haman saw that Mordecai would not bow down or pay him homage, he was filled with rage. 6 When he learnt who Mordecai’s own people were, Haman decided not to do away with Mordecai alone. Instead, Haman sought a way to destroy all of Mordecai’s people, the Jews, throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus.
7 In the first month, the month of Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, they cast the Pur (that is, the lot) in the presence of Haman to select a day and a month, and it fell on the twelfth month, the month of Adar.
8 Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom. Their laws are different from those of all other people, and they do not obey the king’s laws. So it is not in the king’s best interest to tolerate them. 9 If it pleases the king, let a decree be issued authorising their destruction, and I will deposit ten thousand talents of silver into the royal treasury to pay for men to fulfil this decree.”
10 So the king took his signet ring from his finger and gave it to Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews. 11 Then the king told Haman, “The money is given to you, along with the people, so do with them as you please.”
12 So on the thirteenth day of the first month, the king’s scribes were summoned. They wrote out the orders Haman commanded in the script of each province in the language of those peoples. These were intended for the royal satraps, the governors of the various provinces, and the officials of the various peoples. These were written in the name of King Ahasuerus himself and sealed with the king’s signet ring. 13 Letters were sent by couriers to all the king’s provinces with the order to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate all the Jews—both young and old, women and children—on a single day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar, and to plunder their possessions. 14 A copy of the text was to be issued as law in every province and made known to all the peoples so that they would be ready for that day.
15 The couriers went out, hastened by the king’s command, and the decree was issued in the citadel of Susa. The king and Haman sat down to drink, but the city of Susa was in confusion.