< Esther 6 >

1 The king passed that night without sleep, and so he ordered the histories and chronicles of former times to be brought to him. And when they were reading them before him,
On that night the sleep of the king has fled away, and he commands to bring in the scroll of memorials of the chronicles, and they are read before the king,
2 they came to that place where it had been written, how Mordecai had reported the treachery of Bigthan and Teresh the eunuchs, who desired to cut the throat of king Artaxerxes.
and it is found written that Mordecai had declared concerning Bigthana and Teresh, two of the eunuchs of the king, of the keepers of the threshold, who sought to put forth a hand on King Ahasuerus.
3 When the king had heard this, he said, “What honor and reward has Mordecai been given for this fidelity?” His servants and ministers said to him, “He has received no compensation at all.”
And the king says, “What honor and greatness has been done to Mordecai for this?” And the servants of the king, his ministers, say, “Nothing has been done with him.”
4 And immediately the king said, “Who is in the atrium?” For, you see, Haman was entering the inner atrium of the king’s house to suggest to the king that he should order Mordecai to be hanged on the gallows, which had been prepared for him.
And the king says, “Who [is] in the court?” And Haman has come into the outer court of the house of the king, to say to the king to hang Mordecai on the tree that he had prepared for him.
5 The servants answered, “Haman is standing in the atrium.” And the king said, “Let him enter.”
And the servants of the king say to him, “Behold, Haman is standing in the court”; and the king says, “Let him come in.”
6 And when he had entered, he said to him, “What ought to be done for the man whom the king wishes to honor?” But Haman, thinking in his heart and supposing that the king would honor no one else but himself,
And Haman comes in, and the king says to him, “What should [I] do with the man in whose honor the king has delighted?” And Haman says in his heart, “To whom does the king delight to do honor more than myself?”
7 answered, “The man whom the king wishes to honor,
And Haman says to the king, “The man in whose honor the king has delighted,
8 ought to be clothed with the king’s apparel, and be set upon the horse that the king rides, and receive the royal crown upon his head.
let them bring in royal clothing that the king has put on himself, and a horse on which the king has ridden, and that the royal crown be put on his head,
9 And let the first of the king’s rulers and sovereigns hold his horse, and, as they advance through the street of the city, proclaim before him and say, ‘Thus shall he be honored, whom the king decides to honor.’”
and to give the clothing and the horse into the hand of a man of the heads of the king, the chiefs, and they have clothed the man in whose honor the king has delighted, and caused him to ride on the horse in a broad place of the city, and called before him: Thus it is done to the man in whose honor the king has delighted.”
10 And the king said to him, “Hurry, take the robe and the horse, and do as you have said to Mordecai the Jew, who sits in front of the gate of the palace. Be careful not to omit any of those things which you have mentioned.”
And the king says to Haman, “Hurry, take the clothing and the horse, as you have spoken, and do so to Mordecai the Jew, who is sitting in the gate of the king; there does not fall a thing of all that you have spoken.”
11 And so Haman took the robe and the horse, and arraying Mordecai in the street of the city, and setting him on the horse, he went before him and cried out, “He is worthy of this honor, whom the king has decided to honor.”
And Haman takes the clothing, and the horse, and clothed Mordecai, and causes him to ride in a broad place of the city, and calls before him, “Thus it is done to the man in whose glory the king has delighted.”
12 And Mordecai returned to the palace door. And Haman hurried to go to his house, mourning and hiding his head.
And Mordecai turns back to the gate of the king, and Haman has been hurried to his house mourning, and with covered head,
13 And he explained to Zeresh his wife and to his friends all that had happened to him. And the wise men, whom he held in counsel, and his wife, answered him, “If Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall, is from the offspring of the Jews, you will not be able to withstand him, but you will fall in his sight.”
and Haman recounts to his wife Zeresh, and to all his friends, all that has met him, and his wise men and his wife Zeresh say to him, “If Mordecai [is] of the seed of the Jews, before whom you have begun to fall, you are not able for him, but certainly fall before him.”
14 As they were still speaking, the king’s eunuchs arrived and compelled him to go quickly to the feast, which the queen had prepared.
They are yet speaking with him, and eunuchs of the king have come, and hurry to bring in Haman to the banquet that Esther has made.

< Esther 6 >