3:1 ^[50] After these things did king Ahasuerus promote Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, and advanced him, and set his seat above all the princes that [were] with him:

3:2 And all the king' s servants, that [were] in the king' s gate, bowed, and reverenced Haman: for the king had so commanded concerning him. But Mordecai bowed not, nor did [him] reverence:

3:3 Then the king' s servants, which [were] in the king' s gate, said unto Mordecai, Why transgressest thou the king' s commandment:

3:4 Now it came to pass, when they spake daily unto him, and he hearkened not unto them, that they told Haman, to see whether Mordecai' s matters would stand: for he had told them that he [was] a Jew:

3:5 And when Haman saw that Mordecai bowed not, nor did him reverence, then was Haman full of wrath:

3:6 And he thought scorn to lay hands on Mordecai alone; for they had shewed him the people of Mordecai: wherefore Haman sought to destroy all the Jews that [were] throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus, [even] the people of Mordecai:

3:7 In the first month, that [is], the month Nisan, in the twelfth year of king Ahasuerus, they cast Pur, that [is], the lot, before Haman from day to day, and from month to month, [to] the twelfth [month], that [is], the month Adar:

3:8 And Haman said unto king Ahasuerus, There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the people in all the provinces of thy kingdom; and their laws [are] diverse from all people; neither keep they the king' s laws: therefore it [is] not for the king' s profit to suffer them:

3:9 If it please the king, let it be written that they may be destroyed: and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver to the hands of those that have the charge of the business, to bring [it] into the king' s treasuries:

3:10 And the king took his ring from his hand, and gave it unto Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the Jews' enemy:

3:11 And the king said unto Haman, The silver [is] given to thee, the people also, to do with them as it seemeth good to thee:

3:12 Then were the king' s scribes called on the thirteenth day of the first month, and there was written according to all that Haman had commanded unto the king' s lieutenants, and to the governors that [were] over every province, and to the rulers of every people of every province according to the writing thereof, and [to] every people after their language; in the name of king Ahasuerus was it written, and sealed with the king' s ring:

3:13 And the letters were sent by posts into all the king' s provinces, to destroy, to kill, and to cause to perish, all Jews, both young and old, little children and women, in one day, [even] upon the thirteenth [day] of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, and [to take] the spoil of them for a prey:

3:14 KJV [13:1] The copy of the letters was this: