Esther 6–7

Chapter 6

The King Plans to Honor Mordecai

¹During that night ¹the king ^acould not sleep so he gave an order to bring ^bthe book of records, the chronicles, and they were read before the king.

²It was found written what ^aMordecai had reported concerning Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs who were doorkeepers, that they had sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus.

³The king said, “What honor or dignity has been bestowed on Mordecai for this?” Then the king’s servants who attended him said, “Nothing has been done for him.”

⁴So the king said, “Who is in the court?” Now Haman had just ^aentered the outer court of the king’s palace in order to speak to the king about ^bhanging Mordecai on the gallows which he had prepared for him.

⁵The king’s servants said to him, “Behold, 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 is to be done for the man ^awhom the king desires to honor?” And Haman said ¹to himself, “Whom would the king desire to honor more than me?”

⁷Then Haman said to the king, “For the man whom the king desires to honor,

⁸let them bring a royal robe which the king has worn, and ^athe horse on which the king has ridden, and on whose head ^ba royal crown has been placed;

⁹and let the robe and the horse be handed over to one of the king’s most noble princes and let them array the man whom the king desires to honor and lead him on horseback through the city square, ^aand proclaim before him, ‘Thus it shall be done to the man whom the king desires to honor.’ ”

Haman Must Honor Mordecai

¹⁰Then the king said to Haman, “Take quickly the robes and the horse as you have said, and do so for Mordecai the Jew, who is sitting at the king’s gate; do not fall short in anything of all that you have said.”

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

¹²Then Mordecai returned to the king’s gate. But Haman hurried home, mourning, ^awith his head covered.

¹³Haman recounted ^ato 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 ¹of Jewish origin, you will not overcome him, but will surely fall before him.”

¹⁴While they were still talking with him, the king’s eunuchs arrived and hastily ^abrought Haman to the banquet which Esther had prepared.

Chapter 7

Esther’s Plea

¹Now the king and Haman came to drink wine with Esther the queen.

²And the king said to Esther on the second day also ¹as they drank their wine at the banquet, “^aWhat is your petition, Queen Esther? It shall be granted you. And what is your request? ^bEven to half of the kingdom it shall be done.”

³Then Queen Esther replied, “^aIf I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it pleases the king, let my life be given me as my petition, and my people as my request;

⁴for ^awe have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, ^bto be killed and to be annihilated. Now if we had only been sold as slaves, men and women, I would have remained silent, for the ¹trouble would not be commensurate with the ²annoyance to the king.”

⁵Then King Ahasuerus ¹asked Queen Esther, “Who is he, and where is he, ²who would presume to do thus?”

⁶Esther said, “^aA foe and an enemy is this wicked Haman!” Then Haman became terrified before the king and queen.

Haman Is Hanged

⁷The king arose ^ain his anger from ¹drinking wine and went into ^bthe palace garden; but Haman stayed to beg for his life from Queen Esther, for he saw that harm had been determined against him by the king.

⁸Now when the king returned from the palace garden into the ¹place where they were drinking wine, Haman was falling on ^athe couch where Esther was. Then the king said, “Will he even assault the queen with me in the house?” As the word went out of the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face.

⁹Then Harbonah, one of the eunuchs who were before the king said, “Behold indeed, ^athe gallows standing at Haman’s house fifty cubits high, which Haman made for Mordecai ^bwho spoke good on behalf of the king!” And the king said, “Hang him on it.”

^10aSo they hanged Haman on the ¹gallows which he had prepared for Mordecai, ^band the king’s anger subsided.