¹³ When Haman told his wife Zeresh and all his friends everything that had happened to him, his wise men and his wife Zeresh said to him, “If Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall, is of Jewish descent, you will not prevail against ^(A)him but will surely fall before him.”

⁸ Now it came to pass in the morning ^(A)that his spirit was troubled, and he sent and called for all ^(B)the magicians of Egypt and all its ^(C)wise men. And Pharaoh told them his dreams, but there was no one who could interpret them for Pharaoh.

^19 (A)Within three days Pharaoh will lift ^[a]off your head from you and ^(B)hang you on a tree; and the birds will eat your flesh from you.”

²⁶ This is the interpretation of each word. MENE: God has numbered your kingdom, and finished it; ²⁷ TEKEL: ^(A)You have been weighed in the balances, and found wanting; ²⁸ PERES: Your kingdom has been divided, and given to the ^(B)Medes and ^(C)Persians.”^[a]

¹² For this reason the king was angry and very furious, and gave the command to destroy all the wise men of Babylon.

¹⁰ Nevertheless Haman ^(A)restrained himself and went home, and he sent and called for his friends and his wife Zeresh. ¹¹ Then Haman told them of his great riches, ^(B)the multitude of his children, everything in which the king had promoted him, and how he had ^(C)advanced him above the officials and servants of the king.

¹² Moreover Haman said, “Besides, Queen Esther invited no one but me to come in with the king to the banquet that she prepared; and tomorrow I am again invited by her, along with the king. ¹³ Yet all this avails me nothing, so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king’s gate.”

¹⁴ Then his wife Zeresh and all his friends said to him, “Let a ^(D)gallows^[a] be made, ^[b]fifty cubits high, and in the morning ^(E)suggest to the king that Mordecai be hanged on it; then go merrily with the king to the banquet.”

And the thing pleased Haman; so he had ^(F)the gallows made.