² and in the presence of his associates^(A) and the army of Samaria, he said, “What are those feeble Jews doing? Will they restore their wall? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they finish in a day? Can they bring the stones back to life from those heaps of rubble^(B)—burned as they are?”

³ Tobiah^(C) the Ammonite, who was at his side, said, “What they are building—even a fox climbing up on it would break down their wall of stones!”^(D)

⁴ Hear us, our God, for we are despised.^(E) Turn their insults back on their own heads. Give them over as plunder in a land of captivity.

⁶ Yet having learned who Mordecai’s people were, he scorned the idea of killing only Mordecai. Instead Haman looked for a way^(A) to destroy^(B) all Mordecai’s people, the Jews,^(C) throughout the whole kingdom of Xerxes.

⁷ In the twelfth year of King Xerxes, in the first month, the month of Nisan, the pur^(D) (that is, the lot^(E)) 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.^(F)

⁸ 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^(G) are different from those of all other people, and they do not obey^(H) the king’s laws; it is not in the king’s best interest to tolerate them.^(I)

² This is what the Sovereign Lord says:^(A) The enemy said of you, “Aha!^(B) The ancient heights^(C) have become our possession.^(D)”’