1 After these events, King Ahasuerus promoted Haman, son of Hammedatha the Agagite, to a rank higher than that of all the other officials.
2 On orders of the king, all the royal officials at the king's gate would kneel and bow down to Haman. This Mordecai refused to do.
3 The royal officials at the king's gate asked Mordecai, "Why do you disobey the king's order?"
4 They spoke to him day after day, but he refused to comply, explaining that he was a Jew. To find out if this explanation was acceptable, they reported the matter to Haman.
5 Haman was enraged when he saw that Mordecai would not kneel down or pay him honor.
6 Having learned who Mordecai's people were, he thought it would not be enough to lay hands on him alone, but sought to destroy all the Jews throughout the kingdom of Ahasuerus.
7 In the first month, the month of Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, the pur or lot was cast in Haman's presence to determine the day and the month for the destruction of Mordecai's people. The lot fell on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, Adar.
8 Haman talked to King Ahasuerus, "Scattered throughout the provinces of your kingdom is a certain people, whose customs differ from those of other people. Since they do not obey our laws, it is not in the king's best interests to tolerate them.
9 If it please the king, let a decree be issued to destroy them. I will deposit in the royal treasury ten thousand silver talents for the men who carry out the king's business."
10 The king took the signet ring off his finger, handed it to Haman, son of Hammedatha the Agagite, enemy of the Jews, and said,
11 "Keep the money, and do with these people as you please."
12 On the thirteenth day of the first month, the royal scribes were summoned. As Haman dictated, they wrote orders in the script of each province and in the language of each people to the king's satraps, the governors of every province, and the officials of every people. Written in the name of King Ahasuerus himself and sealed with his own ring,
13 these dispatches were sent by couriers to all the royal provinces with the order to kill, destroy and wipe out all the Jews - young and old, women and children - on a single day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month of Adar, and to plunder their goods.
14 A copy of the edict to be promulgated as law in every province was published for all the people to know so that they would be ready for that day.
15 The couriers, spurred on by the king's command, set out in haste, and the edict was first promulgated in Susa. As the king and Haman sat down to drink, the city of Susa was in bewilderment.
Versículos relacionados com Esther, 3:
Esther 3 is the chapter in which the character Haman, one of the Persian king's advisers, elaborates a plan to exterminate all the Jews from the kingdom. He can convince the king to issue a decree authorizing the killing, generating great anguish and fear among the Jewish people. Following, five verses related to the topics covered in Esther 3:
Proverbs 29:2: "When the righteous are magnified, the people rejoice, but when the wicked dominates, the people moan." Esther's book clearly portrays this reality: the people suffers the consequences of Haman's wickedness and greed, an wicked man who has achieved great power in the kingdom.
Isaiah 10:1-2: "Woe to those who decree unfair laws, those who write laws of oppression to deny justice to the poor, to snatch the right of the afflicted of my people, to strip the widows and steal from orphans!" Haman's decree was an example of an unfair law that aimed to oppress and eliminate a specific group of people.
Psalm 37:7: "Rest in the Lord and wait for him with patience; do not irritate you because of the one who thrives in his way, because of the man who carries out his evil designs." This psalm brings a message of trust in God, even when the wicked prosper and promote injustice. This is an important message to the Jews of Esther 3, who had to trust that God would take care of them and that Haman would not have the last word.
Proverbs 26:27: "What makes a pit, it will fall into it; and who rolls a stone, for her to return." This proverb talks about the fact that the evil that a person eventually sows returns to him. This principle applies to Haman, who planned the extermination of the Jews, but was eventually hanged in the gallows he had prepared for the Jewish Mordecai leader.
Romans 12:19: "Beloved, never seek to take revenge, but leave with God the wrath, for it is written, 'My is revenge; I will return,' says the Lord." This verse highlights the importance of not seeking personal revenge, but trusting that God is just and will bring justice at the right time. This is a lesson that Esther 3 Jews needed to learn, as they were initially encouraged to fight their enemies, but were eventually told to trust that God would fight for them.
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