1
Some time later King Xerxes honored a man named Haman son of Hammedatha, a Bougaean, by promoting him to the position of prime minister.
2
The king ordered all the officials in his service to show their respect for Haman by bowing to him. They all did so, except Mordecai, who refused to bow to Haman.
3
The other officials in the royal service asked him why he was disobeying the king's command.
4
Day after day they urged him to give in, but he would not listen to them. "I am a Jew," he explained, "and I cannot bow to Haman." So they told Haman how Mordecai was defying the king's orders.
5
Haman was furious when he realized that Mordecai was not going to bow to him,
6
and so he made plans to kill every Jew in the whole Persian Empire.
7
In the twelfth year of King Xerxes' reign, Haman ordered the lots to be cast to find out the right day and month to destroy the Jews, all in a single day. The fourteenth day of the month of Adar was the date chosen.
8
So Haman told the king, "There is a certain race of people scattered among the nations all over your empire. They observe customs that are not like those of any other people. Moreover, they do not obey the laws of the empire, so it is not in your best interests to tolerate them.
9
If it please Your Majesty, issue a decree that they are to be put to death. If you do this, I promise to put 375 tons of silver into the royal treasury."