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Esther 3:1-3
New Catholic Bible
Esther 3:1-3
New Catholic Bible
Haman’s Plot To Destroy the Jews
Chapter 3
Mordecai Refuses To Honor Haman.[a] 1 Sometime later, King Ahasuerus honored Haman, son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, giving him a higher rank and seating him above all his royal nobles. 2 All the royal officials who were at the king’s gate would kneel down and render homage to Haman, for that is what the king had ordered to be done toward him. But Mordecai refused to kneel and bow down to him.
3 The other officials at the king’s gate asked Mordecai, “Why do you fail to obey the king’s command?”
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Esther 3:1 Refusing to render to a minister the honors prescribed by the king, Mordecai exemplifies Jewish pride to the court mentality. In fact, such practices were normal in the East and even in Israel (1 Ki 1:23; 2 Ki 4:37). The Greek text will attach an idolatrous sense to this reverence requested before Haman (Est C:5-7), while the Hebrew text does not go this far.
