² And he spoke before his brethren and the army of Samaria, and said, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they fortify themselves? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they complete it in a day? Will they revive the stones from the heaps of rubbish—stones that are burned?”

³ Now ^(A)Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him, and he said, “Whatever they build, if even a fox goes up on it, he will break down their stone wall.”

^4 (B)Hear, O our God, for we are despised; ^(C)turn their reproach on their own heads, and give them as plunder to a land of captivity!

⁶ But he disdained to lay hands on Mordecai alone, for they had told him of the people of Mordecai. Instead, Haman ^(A)sought to destroy all the Jews who were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus—the people of Mordecai.

⁷ In the first month, which is the month of Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, ^(B)they cast Pur (that is, the lot), before Haman ^[a]to determine the day and the ^[b]month, ^[c]until it fell on the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar.

⁸ Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the people in all the provinces of your kingdom; ^(C)their laws are different from all other people’s, and they do not keep the king’s laws. Therefore it is not fitting for the king to let them remain.

² Thus says the Lord God: “Because ^(A)the enemy has said of you, ‘Aha! ^(B)The ^[a]ancient heights ^(C)have become our possession,’ ” ’