¹⁸ I said in my heart with regard to the children of man that God is testing them that they may see that they themselves are but ^(A)beasts. ^19 (B)For what happens to the children of man and what happens to the beasts is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and man has no advantage over the beasts, for all is vanity.^[a]

^10 (A)So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. ^(B)Then the wrath of the king abated.

¹¹ And Haman recounted to them the splendor of his riches, ^(A)the number of his sons, all the promotions with which ^(B)the king had honored him, and how he had advanced him above the officials and the servants of the king. ¹² Then Haman said, “Even Queen Esther let no one but me come with the king to the feast she prepared. And tomorrow also I am invited by her together with the king. ¹³ Yet all this is worth nothing to me, so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting ^(C)at the king's gate.” ¹⁴ Then ^(D)his wife Zeresh and all his friends said to him, ^(E)“Let a gallows^[a] fifty cubits^[b] high be made, and in the morning tell the king to have Mordecai hanged upon it. Then go joyfully with the king to the feast.” This idea pleased Haman, and he had the gallows made.