Then Haman said to King Xerxes, “There is a certain people dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom who keep themselves separate. Their customs(A) are different from those of all other people, and they do not obey(B) the king’s laws; it is not in the king’s best interest to tolerate them.(C) If it pleases the king, let a decree be issued to destroy them, and I will give ten thousand talents[a] of silver to the king’s administrators for the royal treasury.”(D)

10 So the king took his signet ring(E) from his finger and gave it to Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews. 11 “Keep the money,” the king said to Haman, “and do with the people as you please.”

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Footnotes

  1. Esther 3:9 That is, about 375 tons or about 340 metric tons

15 The couriers went out, spurred on by the king’s command, and the edict was issued in the citadel of Susa.(A) The king and Haman sat down to drink,(B) but the city of Susa was bewildered.(C)

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