Esther 3:1-8

Amplified Bible

Haman’s Plot against the Jews

3 After these things King Ahasuerus (Xerxes) promoted Haman, the son of Hammedatha the ^[a]Agagite, and advanced him and ^[b]established his authority over all the officials who were with him. ² All the king’s servants who were at the king’s gate [in royal service] bowed down and honored and paid homage to Haman; for this is what the king had commanded in regard to him. But Mordecai [a Jew of the tribe of Benjamin] neither bowed down nor paid homage [to him]. ³ Then the king’s servants who were at the king’s gate said to Mordecai, “Why are you disregarding the king’s command?” ⁴ Now it happened when they had spoken to him day after day and he would not listen to them, that they told Haman to see whether Mordecai’s reason [for his behavior] would stand [as valid]; for he had told them that he was a Jew. ⁵ When Haman saw that Mordecai neither bowed down nor paid homage to him, he was furious. ⁶ But he disdained laying hands on Mordecai alone, for they had told him who the people of Mordecai were (his nationality); so Haman determined to destroy all the Jews, the people of Mordecai, who lived throughout the kingdom of Ahasuerus.

⁷ In the first month, the month of Nisan (Mar-Apr), in the ^[c]twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, Haman cast Pur, that is, the lot, cast before him day after day [to find a lucky day to approach the king], month after month, until the twelfth month, the month of Adar (Feb-Mar). ⁸ Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered [abroad] 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 observe the king’s laws. Therefore it is not in the king’s interest to [tolerate them and] let them stay here.