In the first month, which is the month of Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, (A)they cast Pur (that is, they cast lots) before Haman day after day; and they cast it month after month till the twelfth month, which is (B)the month of Adar. Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom. (C)Their laws are different from those of every other people, and they do not keep the king's laws, so that it is not to the king's profit to tolerate them. If it please the king, let it be decreed that they be destroyed, and I will pay 10,000 talents[a] of silver into the hands of those who have charge of the king's business, that they may put it into the king's treasuries.”

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Footnotes

  1. Esther 3:9 A talent was about 75 pounds or 34 kilograms

In the twelfth year of King Xerxes, in the first month, the month of Nisan, the pur(A) (that is, the lot(B)) was cast in the presence of Haman to select a day and month. And the lot fell on[a] the twelfth month, the month of Adar.(C)

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(D) are different from those of all other people, and they do not obey(E) the king’s laws; it is not in the king’s best interest to tolerate them.(F) If it pleases the king, let a decree be issued to destroy them, and I will give ten thousand talents[b] of silver to the king’s administrators for the royal treasury.”(G)

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Footnotes

  1. Esther 3:7 Septuagint; Hebrew does not have And the lot fell on.
  2. Esther 3:9 That is, about 375 tons or about 340 metric tons