Ester 3

1 Nogen Tid efter gav Kong Ahasverus Agagiten Haman, Hammedatas Søn, en høj Stilling og udmærkede ham og gav ham Forsædet blandt alle Fyrsterne, som var hos ham.

Some time later, King Xerxes (promoted/gave his most important job/work to) Haman, the son of Hammedatha, who was a descendant of [King] Agag. Haman became more important than all his other officials. [Only the king was more important.]

2 Og alle Kongens Tjenere, som var i Kongens Port, faldt på Knæ og kastede sig til Jorden for Haman, thi den Ære havde Kongen påbudt at vise ham. Men Mordokaj faldt ikke på Knæ og kastede sig ikke til Jorden.

Then the king commanded that all the other officials had to bow down in front of Haman to honor him [when he walked by]. But Mordecai refused to bow down to Haman.

3 Kongens Tjenere, som var i Kongens Port, sagde da til Mordokaj: "Hvorfor overtræder du Kongens Bud?"

The [other] officials [saw that, and they] asked Mordecai, “Why do you disobey what the king commanded?”

4 Og da de havde sagt det til ham flere Dage i Træk, uden at han ænsede det, meldte de Haman det for at se, om Mordokajs Ord vilde blive taget for gyldige; thi han havde gjort gældende over for dem, at han var Jøde.

Mordecai told them that he was a Jew, [and that Jews would bow down only to God]. Day after day the other officials spoke to Mordecai about that, but he still refused to obey. So they told Haman about it, to see if Haman would tolerate it.

5 Da nu Haman så, at Mordokaj hverken faldt på Knæ eller kastede sig til Jorden for ham, blev han såre opbragt.

When Haman saw that Mordecai would not bow down to him, he became extremely angry.

6 Og da det blev fortalt ham, hvilket Folk Mordokaj tilhørte, var han ikke tilfreds med kun at lægge Hånd på Mordokaj, men satte sig til Mål at få alle Jøderne i hele Ahasverus's Rige udryddet, fordi det var Mordokajs Folk.

[After he found out that Mordecai was a Jew, ] he decided that it would not be enough to get rid of only Mordecai. He decided to kill all the Jews in all the area that Xerxes ruled.

7 I den første Måned, det er Nisan Måned, i Kong Ahasverus's tolvte Regeringsår kastede man i Hamans Påsyn Pur, det er Lod, om hver enkelt Dag og hver enkelt Måned, og Loddet traf den trettende Dag i den tolvte Måned, det er Adar Måned.

So, during the twelfth year that Xerxes was ruling, during the month of April, [Haman told his advisors to] (cast lots/throw small marked stones) to determine the best month and the best day to kill the Jews. Haman’s advisors did that, and the day that was selected was March 7th [during the following/next year].

8 Haman sagde derpå til Kong Ahasverus: Der findes et Folk, som bor spredt og lever for sig selv iblandt Folkene i alle dit Riges Dele; deres Love er anderledes end alle andre Folks, og Kongens Love holder de ikke. Derfor er det ikke Kongen værdigt at lade dem være i Fred.

Then Haman [went to] the king [and] said to [him], “[Your majesty, ] there is a certain group of people who live in many areas [of your empire] whose customs are different from ours. They even refuse to obey your laws. So it would be good for you to get rid of them.

9 Hvis Kongen synes, lad der så udgå skriftlig Befaling til at udrydde dem; jeg vil da kunne tilveje Embedsmændene 10.000 Talenter Sølv til at lægge i Kongens Skatkamre.

If it pleases you, command that they should all be killed. [If you do that, ] I will give (375 tons/750,000 pounds) of silver to your administrators so that you can use it for your government.”

10 Da tog Kongen Seglringen at sin Hånd og gav den til Agagiten Haman, Hammedatas Søn, Jødernes Fjende,

The king liked [what Haman said, so, and to confirm what he decided], he gave the ring that had his official seal on it to Haman, who now hated the Jews.

11 og Kongen sagde til Haman: "Sølvet skal tilhøre dig, og med Folket kan du gøre, hvad du finder for godt!"

The king told Haman, “Keep your money, but do what you want to with those people [whom you talked about]!”

12 Kongens Skrivere blev så tilkaldt den trettende Dag i den første Måned; og ganske som Haman bød, affattedes Skrivelser til de kongelige Satraper og Statholdere over hver enkelt Laodsdel og til hvert enkelt Folks Fyrster, til hver Landsdel med dens egen Skrift og til hvert Folk på dets eget Sprog. I Kong Ahasverus's Navn blev de skrevet, og de forsegledes med Kongens Seglring.

On April 17th Haman summoned the king’s secretaries, and he dictated a letter to them that they [translated and] wrote to all the governors and administrators and other officials in all the provinces. They wrote copies of the letter in every language and every kind of writing/alphabet that was used in the empire. They wrote that all the Jews, [including] young people and old people, women and children, had to be killed on one day. That day was March 7th of the following year. They also wrote that [those who killed the Jews] could take everything that belonged to the Jews. [They signed] the king’s name [at the end of] the letters. Then they sealed the letters [with wax, and stamped the wax by] using the king’s ring. Then they sent the letters swiftly to every province in the empire,

13 Skrivelser sendtes så ved Ilbud ud i alle Kongens Lande med Befaling til at udrydde, ihjelslå og tilintetgøre alle Jøder, unge og gamle, Børn og Kvinder, på een Dag, den trettende Dag i den tolvte Måned, det er Adar Måned, og at prisgive deres Ejendele.

14 En Afskrift af Skrivelsen, der skulde udstedes som Forordning i alle Rigets Dele, blev kundgjort for alle Folkene, for at de kunde være rede til den Dag.

The king [also commanded that] copies of these letters should be [nailed up] where [all the people] could see them, in every province, so that the people would be ready to do on the day the king had set [what was written in the letter].

15 Ilbudene skyndte sig af Sted på Kongens Bud, så snart Forordningen var udgået i Borgen Susan. Kongen og Haman satte sig så til at drikke; men Byen Susan var rædselsslagen.

Then, according to what the king commanded, men [riding horses] took those letters quickly to every province [in the empire]. And one of the letters was read [aloud to the people] in the capital city, Susa. Then the king and Haman sat down and drank [wine], but the people in Susa were very perplexed [about why this was going to happen].