Esther 3
Esther 3:1 After all this, King Ahasuerus honored Haman, son of Hammedatha the Agagite. He promoted him in rank and gave him a higher position than all the other captains.
Esther 3:2 All the royal slaves at the King’s Gate bowed down and paid homage to Haman because the king had commanded this. But Mordecai would not bow down or pay homage.
Esther 3:3 The royal slaves at the King’s Gate asked Mordecai, “Why are you disobeying the king’s command?”
Esther 3:4 When they had warned him day after day, and he still would not listen to them, they told Haman to see if Mordecai’s actions would be tolerated since he had told them he was a Jew.
Esther 3:5 When Haman saw that Mordecai was not bowing down or paying him homage, he was enraged.
Esther 3:6 When he learned of Mordecai’s ethnic identity, it seemed disgusting to Haman to do away with Mordecai alone. He planned to exterminate[1] all of Mordecai’s people, the Jews, throughout Ahasuerus’s kingdom.
Esther 3:7 In the first month, the month of Nisan, in King Ahasuerus’s twelfth year, the Pur– that is, the lot– was cast before Haman for each day in each month, and it fell on the twelfth month, the month Adar.
Esther 3:8 Then Haman informed King Ahasuerus, “There is one ethnic group, scattered throughout the peoples in every province of your kingdom, keeping themselves separate. Their laws differ from everyone else’s, and they do not obey the king’s laws. It is not in the king’s best interest to tolerate them.
Esther 3:9 If the king approves, let an order be drawn up authorizing their destruction,[2] and I will pay 375 tons of silver to the officials for deposit in the royal treasury.”
Esther 3:10 The king removed his signet ring from his finger and gave it to Haman, son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of the Jewish people.
Esther 3:11 Then the king told Haman, “The money and people are given to you to do with as you see fit.”
Esther 3:12 The royal scribes were summoned on the thirteenth day of the first month, and the order was written exactly as Haman commanded. It was intended for the royal satraps, the governors of each province, and the captains of each ethnic group, and was written for each province in its script and for each ethnic group in its language. It was written in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed with the royal signet ring.
Esther 3:13 Letters were sent by couriers to each of the royal provinces telling the officials to exterminate, kill, and destroy all the Jewish people– boys and old men, women and children– and plunder their possessions on a single day, the thirteenth day of Adar, the twelfth month.
Esther 3:14 A copy of the text, issued as law throughout every province, was distributed to everyone so they might get ready for that day.
Esther 3:15 The couriers left, spurred on by royal command, and the law was issued in the fortress of Susa. The king and Haman sat down to drink while the city of Susa was confused.
[1] שָׁמַד = exterminate, be exterminated. Esther 3:6, 13; 4:8; 7:4; 8:11.
[2] אָבַד = destroy, be destroyed. Esther 3:9, 13; 4:7, 14, 16; 7:4; 8:5, 11; 9:6, 12, 24.
links:
The Esther shelf in my library
jeffersonvann 