Esther 6

¹ On that night the king could not sleep; and he commanded to bring the book of records of the chronicles, and they were read before the king. ² And it was found written that Mordecai had told of Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s chamberlains, the keepers of the door, who sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus. ³ And the king said, “What honor and dignity has been done to Mordecai for this?” Then the king’s servants who ministered to him said, “Nothing has been done for him.”

⁴ The king said, “Who is in the court?” Now Haman had come into the outer court of the king’s house, to speak to the king to hang Mordecai on the gallows that he had prepared for him. ⁵ The king’s servants said to him, “Behold, Haman stands in the court.” And the king said, “Let him come in.”

⁶ So Haman came in. And the king said to him, “What shall be done to the man whom the king delights to honor?” Now Haman thought in his heart, “Whom would the king delight to honor more than myself?” ⁷ And Haman said to the king, “For the man whom the king delights to honor, ⁸ let royal apparel be brought which the king has worn, and the horse on which the king rides, and the crown royal set upon his head; ⁹ and let this apparel and horse be delivered to one of the king’s most noble princes, that they may array the man whom the king delights to honor, and bring him on horseback through the street of the city, 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, “Hasten, take the apparel and the horse, as you have said, and do so to Mordecai the Jew, who sits at the king’s gate; leave nothing undone of all that you have spoken.” ¹¹ So Haman took the apparel and the horse, and arrayed Mordecai, and brought him on horseback through the street of the city, and proclaimed before him, “Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor.” ¹² And Mordecai returned to the king’s gate; but Haman hasted to his house mourning, and having his head covered.

¹³ And Haman told Zeresh his wife and all his friends everything that had befallen him. Then his wise men and Zeresh his wife said to him, “If Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall, is of Jewish origin, you shall not prevail against him, but shall surely fall before him.” ¹⁴ While they were yet talking with him, the king’s eunuchs came, and hasted to bring Haman to the banquet that Esther had prepared.