The King Honors Mordecai

6 That night ^[a]the king could not sleep. So one was commanded to bring ^(A)the book of the records of the chronicles; and they were read before the king. ² And it was found written that Mordecai had told of ^[b]Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs, the doorkeepers who had sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus. ³ Then the king said, “What honor or dignity has been bestowed on Mordecai for this?”

And the king’s servants who attended him said, “Nothing has been done for him.”

⁴ So the king said, “Who is in the court?” Now Haman had just entered ^(B)the outer court of the king’s palace ^(C)to suggest that the king hang Mordecai on the gallows that he had prepared for him.

⁵ The king’s servants said to him, “Haman is there, standing in the court.”

And the king said, “Let him come in.”

⁶ So Haman came in, and the king asked him, “What shall be done for the man whom the king delights to honor?”

Now Haman thought in his heart, “Whom would the king delight to honor more than ^(D)me?” ⁷ And Haman answered the king, “For the man whom the king delights to honor, ⁸ let a royal robe be brought which the king has worn, and ^(E)a horse on which the king has ridden, which has a royal ^[c]crest placed on its head. ⁹ Then let this robe and horse be delivered to the hand of one of the king’s most noble princes, that he may array the man whom the king delights to honor. Then ^[d]parade him on horseback through the city square, ^(F)and proclaim before him: ‘Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor!’ ”

¹⁰ Then the king said to Haman, “Hurry, take the robe and the horse, as you have suggested, and do so for Mordecai the Jew who sits within the king’s gate! Leave nothing undone of all that you have spoken.”

¹¹ So Haman took the robe and the horse, arrayed Mordecai and led him on horseback through the city square, and proclaimed before him, “Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor!”

¹² Afterward Mordecai went back to the king’s gate. But Haman ^(G)hurried to his house, mourning ^(H)and with his head covered. 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 ^(I)him but will surely fall before him.”

¹⁴ While they were still talking with him, the king’s eunuchs came, and hastened to bring Haman to ^(J)the banquet which Esther had prepared.

Haman Hanged Instead of Mordecai

7 So the king and Haman went to dine with Queen Esther. ² And on the second day, ^(K)at the banquet of wine, the king again said to Esther, “What is your petition, Queen Esther? It shall be granted you. And what is your request, up to half the kingdom? It shall be done!”

³ Then Queen Esther answered and said, “If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it pleases the king, let my life be given me at my petition, and my people at my request. ⁴ For we have been ^(L)sold, my people and I, to be destroyed, to be killed, and to be annihilated. Had we been sold as ^(M)male and female slaves, I would have held my tongue, although the enemy could never compensate for the king’s loss.”

⁵ So King Ahasuerus answered and said to Queen Esther, “Who is he, and where is he, who would dare presume in his heart to do such a thing?”

⁶ And Esther said, “The adversary and ^(N)enemy is this wicked Haman!”

So Haman was terrified before the king and queen.

⁷ Then the king arose in his wrath from the banquet of wine and went into the palace garden; but Haman stood before Queen Esther, pleading for his life, for he saw that evil was determined against him by the king. ⁸ When the king returned from the palace garden to the place of the banquet of wine, Haman had fallen across ^(O)the couch where Esther was. Then the king said, “Will he also assault the queen while I am in the house?”

As the word left the king’s mouth, they ^(P)covered Haman’s face. ⁹ Now ^(Q)Harbonah, one of the eunuchs, said to the king, “Look! ^(R)The ^[e]gallows, fifty cubits high, which Haman made for Mordecai, who spoke ^(S)good on the king’s behalf, is standing at the house of Haman.”

Then the king said, “Hang him on it!”

¹⁰ So ^(T)they ^(U)hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the king’s wrath subsided.