2 All the officials in royal employment bowed down and showed respect to Haman, for this is what the king had commanded. But Mordecai would not bow down and show respect to him.
6 Having found out who Mordecai’s people were, he dismissed the idea of just killing Mordecai. He decided to kill every Jew in the whole Persian Empire—all of Mordecai’s people!
7 In the twelfth year of King Xerxes, in the first month, the month of Nisan, "pur" (meaning a "lot") was cast in Haman’s presence to choose a day and month,3:7. Casting lots was an ancient way of determining the most "favorable" time for a particular action, in this case Haman’s plan to destroy the Jews. taking each day and each month one at a time. The lot fell on the twelfth month, the month of Adar.
13 Letters were sent by messenger to all the provinces in the king’s empire with orders to destroy, kill, and annihilate all Jews, young and old, women and children, and confiscate their possessions, all in one day—the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar.