Esther 3:6-8

Contemporary English Version

⁶And when he found out that Mordecai was a Jew, he knew that killing only Mordecai was not enough. Every Jew in the whole kingdom had to be killed.

⁷It was now the twelfth year of the rule of King Xerxes. During Nisan,^[a] the first month of the year, Haman said, “Find out the best time for me to do this.”^[b] The time chosen was Adar,^[c] the twelfth month.

⁸^(A) Then Haman went to the king and said:

Your Majesty, there are some people who live all over your kingdom and won't have a thing to do with anyone else. They have customs that are different from everyone else's, and they refuse to obey your laws. We would be better off to get rid of them!

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Footnotes

3.7 Nisan: The first month of the Hebrew calendar, from about mid-March to mid-April.
3.7 Find out … do this: The Hebrew text has “cast lots,” which were pieces of wood or stone used to find out how and when to do something. For “lots” the Hebrew text uses the Babylonian word “purim.”
3.7 Adar: The twelfth month of the Hebrew calendar, from about mid-February to mid-March.