5 There was a certain Jewish man in Shuʹshan*+ the citadel* whose name was Morʹde·cai+ son of Jaʹir son of Shimʹe·i son of Kish, a Benʹja·min·ite,+ 6 who had been taken into exile from Jerusalem with the people who were deported with King Jec·o·niʹah*+ of Judah, whom King Neb·u·chad·nezʹzar of Babylon took into exile.

8 Haʹman then said to King A·has·u·eʹrus: “There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the peoples+ in all the provinces* of your realm,+ whose laws are different from those of all other peoples; and they do not obey the king’s laws, and it is not in the king’s interests to let them be.