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Esther 3

Esther 3 traces how Haman’s anger at one man becomes an empire-wide death decree against the Jewish people.

King Ahasuerus promotes Haman above the other princes, and the king’s servants bow before him. Mordecai refuses, identifying himself as a Jew, though his precise reason for refusing is unstated. Haman responds by seeking the destruction of every Jew in the kingdom. He secures the king’s approval, and scribes issue a decree setting a day for slaughter and plunder. As couriers carry the order through the provinces, the king and Haman drink while Susa is perplexed.

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1After these things King Ahasuerus promoted Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, and advanced him, and set his seat above all the princes who were with him.
2All the king’s servants who were in the king’s gate bowed down and paid homage to Haman, for the king had so commanded concerning him. But Mordecai didn’t bow down or pay him homage.
3Then the king’s servants who were in the king’s gate said to Mordecai, “Why do you disobey the king’s commandment?”
4Now it came to pass, when they spoke daily to him, and he didn’t listen to them, that they told Haman, to see whether Mordecai’s reason would stand; for he had told them that he was a Jew.
5When Haman saw that Mordecai didn’t bow down nor pay him homage, Haman was full of wrath.
6But he scorned the thought of laying hands on Mordecai alone, for they had made known to him Mordecai’s people. Therefore Haman sought to destroy all the Jews who were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus, even Mordecai’s people.
7In the first month, which 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, and chose the twelfth month, which is the month Adar.
8Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom, and their laws are different from other people’s. They don’t keep the king’s laws. Therefore it is not for the king’s profit to allow them to remain.
9If it pleases the king, let it be written that they be destroyed; and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those who are in charge of the king’s business, to bring it into the king’s treasuries.”
10The king took his ring from his hand, and gave it to Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the Jews’ enemy.
11The king said to Haman, “The silver is given to you, the people also, to do with them as it seems good to you.”
12Then the king’s scribes were called in on the first month, on the thirteenth day of the month; and all that Haman commanded was written to the king’s local governors, and to the governors who were over every province, and to the princes of every people, to every province according to its writing, and to every people in their language. It was written in the name of King Ahasuerus, and it was sealed with the king’s ring.
13Letters were sent by couriers 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 on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, and to plunder their possessions.
15The couriers went out in haste by the king’s commandment, and the decree was given out in the citadel of Susa. The king and Haman sat down to drink; but the city of Susa was perplexed.
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Key verses
Esther 3:8Haman portrays Jewish distinctiveness as disloyalty, turning his personal grievance into an accusation against an entire people.
Esther 3:12The king’s name and seal give Haman’s murderous plan royal authority across every province and language.
Esther 3:15The closing contrast places the rulers’ ease beside the city’s confusion as the death decree goes out.
Where this chapter reaches

Daniel shares the pattern of opponents using royal authority to threaten Jews whose allegiance sets them apart within an empire. Ezra also records accusations presented to a king that portray a Jewish community as disloyal and harmful to royal interests.

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Notice

After reading the whole chapter

What do you notice about how Haman turns Mordecai’s refusal into a charge against all Jews?

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How does the final scene of drinking and public confusion shape your response to the decree?

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Questions people ask about Esther 3

Why did Mordecai refuse to bow to Haman?

The text links Mordecai’s refusal with his Jewish identity, but it does not spell out his reasoning. It never says that bowing to Haman was worship or that Haman claimed divine status. Those explanations go beyond what this chapter states; the reason remains uncertain.

What does Pur mean in Esther 3?

Verse 7 explains Pur as the lot. Lots were cast before Haman to select the timing for his plan, and the chosen month was Adar, the twelfth month. The decree then designated Adar’s thirteenth day for the destruction of the Jews and the plundering of their possessions.

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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).