¹⁸ I also said to myself, “As for humans, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals.^{(A) 19} Surely the fate of human beings^(B) is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath^[a]; humans have no advantage over animals. Everything is meaningless.

¹⁰ So they impaled^(A) Haman^(B) on the pole^(C) he had set up for Mordecai.^(D) Then the king’s fury subsided.^(E)

¹¹ Haman boasted^(A) to them about his vast wealth, his many sons,^(B) and all the ways the king had honored him and how he had elevated him above the other nobles and officials. ¹² “And that’s not all,” Haman added. “I’m the only person^(C) Queen Esther invited to accompany the king to the banquet she gave. And she has invited me along with the king tomorrow. ¹³ But all this gives me no satisfaction as long as I see that Jew Mordecai sitting at the king’s gate.^(D)”

¹⁴ His wife Zeresh and all his friends said to him, “Have a pole set up, reaching to a height of fifty cubits,^[a](E) and ask the king in the morning to have Mordecai impaled^(F) on it. Then go with the king to the banquet and enjoy yourself.” This suggestion delighted Haman, and he had the pole set up.