Esther 3 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.

After these events, King Ahasuerus promoted Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, elevating him above all the other officials and giving him the highest position in the kingdom.

All the king's servants at the king's gate would kneel and bow face-down to Haman, because the king had commanded it. But Mordecai would not kneel and would not bow.

The king's servants at the gate asked Mordecai, "Why are you disobeying the king's command?"

Day after day they confronted him about it, but he wouldn't listen to them. So they told Haman, to see whether Mordecai's position would be tolerated — because he had told them he was a Jew.

When Haman saw that Mordecai would not kneel or bow to him, Haman was filled with rage.

But it wasn't enough for him to go after Mordecai alone. When he learned which people Mordecai belonged to, Haman decided to wipe out all the Jewish people — every single one — throughout the entire kingdom of Ahasuerus.

In the first month — the month of Nisan — in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus's reign, they cast Pur (that is, the lot) in front of Haman, day by day and month by month, until the lot fell on the twelfth month — the month of Adar.

Haman said to King Ahasuerus, "There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom. Their laws are different from every other people's, and they don't follow the king's laws. It's not in the king's interest to let them be."

If it pleases the king, let a decree be issued to destroy them, and I will personally pay ten thousand talents of silver into the royal treasury — paid by the men who carry out the work."

The king took his signet ring off his hand and gave it to Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of the Jewish people.

The king told Haman, "Keep your money. The people are yours — do whatever you want with them."

On the thirteenth day of the first month, the royal scribes were summoned. Haman dictated a decree to be sent to the king's provincial governors, the officials over each province, and the leaders of every people group — written in every province's own script and every people's own language. It was written in King Ahasuerus's name and sealed with the king's signet ring.

Letters were sent by couriers to every province with orders to destroy, kill, and wipe out all the Jewish people — young and old, women and children — on a single day: the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar. And their property would be seized as plunder.

A copy of the decree was to be issued as law in every province and made public to all peoples, so they would be ready for that day.

The couriers rushed out on the king's urgent orders, and the decree was also issued in the fortified palace of Susa. Then the king and Haman sat down to drink, while the city of Susa was thrown into confusion.