1 After these events, King Ahasuerus exalted {giddal: intensively honored} Haman, son of Hammedatha the Agagite {ha’agagi: descendant of Agag}, and elevated him and placed his seat above all the officials who were with him.
2 And all the king’s servants who were at the king’s gate{sha'ar: royal entrance} were bowing down and prostrating themselves{yishtahaveh: deep reverence} to Haman, for thus the king had commanded concerning him; but Mordecai would not bow down or prostrate himself.
3 And the servants {avadim: palace attendants} of the king who were at the king’s gate said to Mordecai, “Why are you transgressing the commandment {mitzvah: royal decree} of the king?”
4 It came about when they spoke to him day after day {yom vayyom: persistent pleading} and he did not listen to them, that they reported the matter to Haman to determine whether Mordecai’s words would stand {haya’amdu: endure trial}, for he had told them that he was a Jew.
5 And when Haman saw that Mordecai was neither kneeling {korea: gesture of submission} nor bowing down to him, Haman was filled with wrath {chemah: burning anger}.
6 And he despised the idea of stretching out his hand against Mordecai alone, for they had informed him about Mordecai’s people; so Haman sought to destroy {lehashmid: utter annihilation} all the Jews {hayehudim: Judahite community} throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus, the people of Mordecai.
7 In the first month—it is the month of Nisan—in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, pur {pur: decision lot} was cast before Haman from day to day and from month to month, up to the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar {Adar: last month}.
8 And Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people, scattered {mefuzar: dispersed widely} and separated among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom, and their laws are different from every other nation, and the laws of the king they do not observe; and for the king {melekh: sovereign ruler} it is not fitting to let them remain.”
9 If it seems good {tov: suitable} to the king, let it be written to destroy them, and I will weigh out ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of the workers, to bring into the treasuries {ginzei: royal stores} of the king.
10 Then the king removed his signet ring {taba‘to: symbol of authority} from his hand and gave it to Haman, son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy {tsorer: persistent adversary} of the Jews.
11 And the king said to Haman, “The silver is given {natun: official grant} to you, and the people as well, to do with them as seems good in your eyes {be'einekha: your discretion}.”
12 And the king’s scribes were summoned in the first month, on the thirteenth day in it, and it was written according to all that Haman commanded to the satraps {satrapei: Persian provincial governors} of the king and to the governors who were over each province, and to the princes of every people—province by province in its own script, and people by people in its own language. In the name of King Ahasuerus it was written and sealed with the king’s signet ring {taba’at: official seal of authority}.
13 And letters were dispatched by the hand of the couriers {haratzim: official royal messengers} to all the king’s provinces, to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate every Jew, from youth {naar: adolescent persons} to the elderly, children and women, in one day, on the thirteenth of the twelfth month—the month of Adar—and to plunder their goods.
14 A copy {patshegen: transcript, official record} of the writing was to be issued as a decree in every province and publicly unveiled to all the peoples, so that they would be prepared {atidim: ready, equipped} for this day.
15 The couriers went out in haste at the king’s command, and the decree was issued in Shushan the citadel {birah: strong fortress}. The king and Haman sat down to drink, and the city of Shushan was bewildered {navokhah: perplexed, unsettled}.