Esther 6

¹ That night the king could not sleep. So he gave orders to bring the book of records, the chronicles, and they were read before the king.

² It was found written that Mordecai had reported concerning Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king's eunuchs who guarded the threshold, who had conspired to assassinate King Ahasuerus.

³ The king said, "What honor or distinction has been given to Mordecai for this?" The king's young men who attended him said, "Nothing has been done for him."

⁴ The king said, "Who is in the court?" Now Haman had just entered the outer court of the king's palace to speak to the king about having Mordecai hanged on the pole he had prepared for him.

⁵ The king's young men said to him, "Haman is standing in the court." The king said, "Let him come in."

⁶ So Haman came in, and the king said to him, "What should be done for the man whom the king delights to honor?" Haman thought to himself, "Whom would the king delight to honor more than me?"

⁷ So Haman said to the king, "For the man whom the king delights to honor:

⁸ let royal robes be brought that the king has worn, and a horse that the king has ridden, with a royal crown set on its head.

⁹ Let the robes and the horse be handed over to one of the king's most noble officials. Let them dress the man whom the king delights to honor, and let them lead him on the horse through the open square of the city, proclaiming before him: 'Thus shall it be done for the man whom the king delights to honor.'"

¹⁰ Then the king said to Haman, "Hurry, take the robes and the horse, as you have said, and do so for Mordecai the Jew who sits at the king's gate. Leave out nothing that you have mentioned."

¹¹ So Haman took the robes and the horse, dressed Mordecai, led him through the open square of the city, and proclaimed before him, "Thus shall it be done for the man whom the king delights to honor."

¹² Then Mordecai returned to the king's gate, but Haman hurried to his house, mourning and with his head covered.

¹³ Haman told his wife Zeresh and all his friends everything that had happened to him. Then 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 him but will surely fall before him."

¹⁴ While they were still talking with him, the king's eunuchs arrived and hurried to bring Haman to the feast that Esther had prepared.