Esther 3:7–15

⁷In the twelfth year of King Xerxes, in the first month, the month of Nisan,^b the Pur (that is, the lot) was cast before Haman to determine a day and month. And the lot fell on the twelfth month, the month of Adar.^c

⁸Then Haman informed King Xerxes, “There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the peoples of every province of your kingdom. Their laws are different from everyone else’s, and they do not obey the king’s laws. So it is not in the king’s best interest to tolerate them. ⁹If it pleases the king, let a decree be issued to destroy them, and I will deposit ten thousand talents of silver^d into the royal treasury to pay those who carry it out.”

¹⁰So the king removed the signet ring from his finger and gave it to Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews. ¹¹“Keep your money,” said the king to Haman. “These people are given to you to do with them as you please.”

¹²On the thirteenth day of the first month, the royal scribes were summoned and the order was written exactly as Haman commanded the royal satraps, the governors of each province, and the officials of each people, in the script of each province and the language of every people. It was written in the name of King Xerxes and sealed with the royal signet ring.

¹³And the letters were sent by couriers to each of the royal provinces with the order to destroy, kill, and annihilate all the Jews— young and old, women and children— and to plunder their possessions on a single day, the thirteenth day of Adar, the twelfth month.

¹⁴A copy of the text of the edict was to be issued in every province and published to all the people, so that they would be ready on that day. ¹⁵The couriers left, spurred on by the king’s command, and the edict was issued in the citadel of Susa. Then the king and Haman sat down to drink, but the city of Susa was in confusion.