Esther 6

1On that night the king could not sleep, so he ordered the book of records, the chronicles, to be brought, and they were read before the king.

2And it was found written that Mordecai had reported concerning Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs, among those who guarded the threshold, who had sought to lay a hand on King Ahasuerus.

3Then the king said, “What honor and greatness has been bestowed on Mordecai for this?” The king’s young men who attended him said, “Nothing has been done for him.”

4And the king said, “Who is in the court?” Now Haman had come into the outer court of the king’s palace to speak to the king about hanging Mordecai on the gallows that he had prepared for him.

5The king’s attendants said to him, “Look, Haman is standing in the court.” And the king said, “Let him come in.”

6So Haman came in, and the king said to him, “What should be done for the man whom the king delights to honor?” And Haman said in his heart, “Whom would the king delight to honor more than me?”

7And Haman said to the king, “For the man whom the king delights to honor—”

8Let them bring a royal robe that the king has worn, and a horse on which the king has ridden, and on whose head a royal crown has been placed.

9And let the robe and the horse be entrusted to the hand of one of the king’s noble officials, and let them clothe the man whom the king delights to honor, and let them mount him on the horse through the open square of the city, and proclaim before him, ‘Thus shall it be done for the man whom the king delights to honor.’

10Then the king said to Haman, “Hurry, take the robe and the horse, just as you have said, and do so for Mordecai the Jew, who sits at the king’s gate. Leave out nothing from all that you have said.”

11So Haman took the robe and the horse, clothed Mordecai, led him on horseback through the city square, and proclaimed before him, “Thus shall it be done for the man whom the king delights to honor.”

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

13Then Haman told Zeresh his wife and all his friends everything that had happened to him. Then his wise men and Zeresh his wife said to him, “If Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall, is from the seed of the Jews, you will not prevail against him, for you will surely fall before him.”

14While they were still speaking with him, the king’s eunuchs arrived and hurried to bring Haman to the banquet that Esther had prepared.