6
Downfall of a Conspirator
1 On that night the king was unable to sleep, so he gave orders to bring the books that recorded memorable deeds, and they were read before the king.
2 It was found recorded how Mordecai had furnished information regarding Bigthan and Teresh, two of the king”s attendants who guarded the entrance of the palace, who had attempted to kill King Ahasuerus.
3 ‘What honour and dignity have been conferred on Mordecai for this?’ the king asked. When the king”s pages who waited on him replied ‘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 house to speak to the king about hanging Mordecai on the gallows that he had prepared for him.
5 So the king”s pages said to him, ‘Haman is standing there; in the court.’ The king said, ‘Let him enter.’
6 So Haman entered, and the king said to him, ‘What should be done for the man whom the king wishes to honour?’ Haman said to himself, ‘Whom besides me could the king wish to honour?’
7 So Haman said to the king, ‘For the man whom the king wishes to honour
8 let a royal garment be brought, which the king has worn, and the horse on which the king has ridden and on whose head a royal diadem has been placed.
9 Then let the garment and the horse be placed in charge of one of the king”s noble officials. Let him clothe the man whom the king wishes to honour and let him lead that man on the horse through the city square, proclaiming before him, “This is what is done for the man whom the king wishes to honour.”’
10 Then the king said to Haman, ‘Make haste and take the garment and the horse, as you have said, and do this to Mordecai the Jew, who sits in the king”s gate. Omit nothing of all you have said.’
11 So Haman took the garment and the horse and clothed Mordecai, and made him ride through the city square and proclaimed before him, ‘This is what is done for the man whom the king wishes to honour.’
12 Mordecai returned to the king”s gate, but Haman hurried to his house, mourning, with his head covered.
13 Haman recounted to Zeresh his wife and to 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 already been humiliated is of the Jewish people, you can do nothing against him but will surely fall before him.’
14 While they were still talking with him, the king”s attendants came and quickly took Haman to the banquet that Esther had prepared. \c 7
1 So the king and Haman went to drink with Queen Esther.
2 As they were drinking wine on that second day, the king again said to Esther, ‘Whatever your petition is, Queen Esther, it will be granted to you. Whatever you request it will be done, even if it takes half of the kingdom.’
3 Then Queen Esther answered, ‘Your Majesty, if I have won your favour, and if it seems best to Your Majesty, let my life be given me as my petition, and my people as my request,
4 for I and my people have been sold to be destroyed, killed, and completely annihilated! If we had been merely sold into slavery I would not have disturbed your peace, because such a fate would not have affected the interests of the king.’
5 Then King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther, ‘Who is he and where is he whose heart has impelled him to do this?’
6 Esther answered: ‘A foe, an enemy: this wicked Haman.’ Then Haman shrank in terror before the king and the queen.
7 In his wrath the king rose from the place where he was drinking wine and went into the palace garden. Haman stayed to beg Queen Esther for his life, for he saw that the king was fully determined to bring calamity upon him.
8 As the king returned from the palace garden to the banquet hall, Haman had flung himself on Esther”s couch. The king cried, ‘Is he going to rape my queen while I am present in my own house?’
As the king spoke these words, the attendants covered Haman”s face
9 and Harbonah, one of those who waited on the king, said, ‘There are the gallows, seventy-five feet high, which Hainan erected for Mordecai, who spoke a good word in behalf of the king, standing in the house of Haman!’ The king said ‘Hang him on them.’
10 So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the wrath of the king was pacified.