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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" /><title>Esther 3 NLT</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/esther/3.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="../topmenuchap/esther/3-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="http://biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">NLT</a> > Esther 3</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../esther/2.htm" title="Esther 2">◄</a> Esther 3 <a href="../esther/4.htm" title="Esther 4">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="99%" valign="top">New Living Translation</td><td width="1%" valign="top"><a href="/p/nlt/esv/esther/3.shtml" style="color:#001320" title="Parallel Chapters"> Par ▾ </a></td></tr></table></div><div class="chap"><p class="hdg">Haman’s Plot against the Jews</p><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/esther/3-1.htm"><b>1</b></a></span>Some time later King Xerxes promoted Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite over all the other nobles, making him the most powerful official in the empire. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/esther/3-2.htm"><b>2</b></a></span>All the king’s officials would bow down before Haman to show him respect whenever he passed by, for so the king had commanded. But Mordecai refused to bow down or show him respect.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/esther/3-3.htm"><b>3</b></a></span>Then the palace officials at the king’s gate asked Mordecai, “Why are you disobeying the king’s command?” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/esther/3-4.htm"><b>4</b></a></span>They spoke to him day after day, but still he refused to comply with the order. So they spoke to Haman about this to see if he would tolerate Mordecai’s conduct, since Mordecai had told them he was a Jew.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/esther/3-5.htm"><b>5</b></a></span>When Haman saw that Mordecai would not bow down or show him respect, he was filled with rage. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/esther/3-6.htm"><b>6</b></a></span>He had learned of Mordecai’s nationality, so he decided it was not enough to lay hands on Mordecai alone. Instead, he looked for a way to destroy all the Jews throughout the entire empire of Xerxes.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/esther/3-7.htm"><b>7</b></a></span>So in the month of April,<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">a</span></a> during the twelfth year of King Xerxes’ reign, lots were cast in Haman’s presence (the lots were called <span class="it">purim</span>) to determine the best day and month to take action. And the day selected was March 7, nearly a year later.<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">b</span></a></p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/esther/3-8.htm"><b>8</b></a></span>Then Haman approached King Xerxes and said, “There is a certain race of people scattered through all the provinces of your empire who keep themselves separate from everyone else. Their laws are different from those of any other people, and they refuse to obey the laws of the king. So it is not in the king’s interest to let them live. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/esther/3-9.htm"><b>9</b></a></span>If it please the king, issue a decree that they be destroyed, and I will give 10,000 large sacks<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">c</span></a> of silver to the government administrators to be deposited in the royal treasury.”</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/esther/3-10.htm"><b>10</b></a></span>The king agreed, confirming his decision by removing his signet ring from his finger and giving it to Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/esther/3-11.htm"><b>11</b></a></span>The king said, “The money and the people are both yours to do with as you see fit.”</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/esther/3-12.htm"><b>12</b></a></span>So on April 17<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">d</span></a> the king’s secretaries were summoned, and a decree was written exactly as Haman dictated. It was sent to the king’s highest officers, the governors of the respective provinces, and the nobles of each province in their own scripts and languages. The decree was written in the name of King Xerxes and sealed with the king’s signet ring. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/esther/3-13.htm"><b>13</b></a></span>Dispatches were sent by swift messengers into all the provinces of the empire, giving the order that all Jews—young and old, including women and children—must be killed, slaughtered, and annihilated on a single day. This was scheduled to happen on March 7 of the next year.<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">e</span></a> The property of the Jews would be given to those who killed them.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/esther/3-14.htm"><b>14</b></a></span>A copy of this decree was to be issued as law in every province and proclaimed to all peoples, so that they would be ready to do their duty on the appointed day. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/esther/3-15.htm"><b>15</b></a></span>At the king’s command, the decree went out by swift messengers, and it was also proclaimed in the fortress of Susa. Then the king and Haman sat down to drink, but the city of Susa fell into confusion.</p><A name="footnotes"></a><hr size="1" color="DDEEFF"><span class="mainfootnotes"><span class="mainfootnoteshdg">Footnotes:</span><br><span class="fn">a</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">3:7a </span><span class="ft">Hebrew </span><span class="it">in the first month, the month of Nisan.</span><span class="ft"> This month of the ancient Hebrew lunar calendar occurred within the months of April and May 474 </span><span class="sc">b.c.</span><span class="ft">; also see note on 2:16.</span><br><span class="fn">b</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">3:7b </span><span class="ft">As in 3:13, which reads </span><span class="it">the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar;</span><span class="ft"> Hebrew reads </span><span class="it">in the twelfth month,</span><span class="ft"> of the ancient Hebrew lunar calendar. The date selected was March 7, 473 </span><span class="sc">b.c.</span><span class="ft">; also see note on 2:16.</span><br><span class="fn">c</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">3:9 </span><span class="ft">Hebrew </span><span class="it">10,000 talents</span><span class="ft">, about 375 tons or 340 metric tons in weight.</span><br><span class="fn">d</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">3:12 </span><span class="ft">Hebrew </span><span class="it">On the thirteenth day of the first month,</span><span class="ft"> of the ancient Hebrew lunar calendar. This day was April 17, 474 </span><span class="sc">b.c.</span><span class="ft">; also see note on 2:16.</span><br><span class="fn">e</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">3:13 </span><span class="ft">Hebrew </span><span class="it">on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar,</span><span class="ft"> of the ancient Hebrew lunar calendar. The date selected was March 7, 473 </span><span class="sc">b.c.</span><span class="ft">; also see note on 2:16.</span><br></span></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center"><em>Holy Bible</em>, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of <a href="http://www.tyndale.com">Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.</a>, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. 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