¹² Afterward Mordecai returned to the palace gate, but Haman hurried home dejected and completely humiliated.

³⁰ David walked up the road to the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went. His head was covered and his feet were bare as a sign of mourning. And the people who were with him covered their heads and wept as they climbed the hill.

⁴ So Ahab went home angry and sullen because of Naboth’s answer. The king went to bed with his face to the wall and refused to eat!

Psalm 131

A song for pilgrims ascending to Jerusalem. A psalm of David.

⁸ In despair he fell on the couch where Queen Esther was reclining, just as the king was returning from the palace garden.

The king exclaimed, “Will he even assault the queen right here in the palace, before my very eyes?” And as soon as the king spoke, his attendants covered Haman’s face, signaling his doom.

¹⁹ Even after all the young women had been transferred to the second harem^[a] and Mordecai had become a palace official,^[b]

²⁰ When Azariah the high priest and all the other priests saw the leprosy, they rushed him out. And the king himself was eager to get out because the Lord had struck him.