¹⁸ I said in my heart, “Concerning the condition of the sons of men, God tests them, that they may see that they themselves are like animals.” ^19 (A)For what happens to the sons of men also happens to animals; one thing befalls them: as one dies, so dies the other. Surely, they all have one breath; man has no advantage over animals, for all is vanity.

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

¹¹ Then Haman told them of his great riches, ^(A)the multitude of his children, everything in which the king had promoted him, and how he had ^(B)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 ^(C)gallows^[a] be made, ^[b]fifty cubits high, and in the morning ^(D)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 ^(E)the gallows made.