Esther 5:3–14

³Then the king said to her, “What is troubling you, Queen Esther? And what is your request? ^aEven to half of the kingdom it shall be given to you.”

⁴Esther said, “If it pleases the king, may the king and Haman come this day to the banquet that I have prepared for him.”

⁵Then the king said, “^aBring Haman quickly that we may do ¹as Esther desires.” So the king and Haman came to the banquet which Esther had prepared.

⁶¹As they drank their wine at the banquet, ^athe king said to Esther, “^bWhat is your petition, for it shall be granted to you. And what is your request? Even to half of the kingdom it shall be done.”

⁷So Esther replied, “My petition and my request is:

^8aif I have found favor in the sight of the king, and if it pleases the king to grant my petition and do ¹what I request, may the king and Haman come to ^bthe banquet which I will prepare for them, and tomorrow I will do ²as the king says.”

Haman’s Pride

⁹Then Haman went out that day glad and pleased of heart; but when Haman saw Mordecai ^ain the king’s gate and ^bthat he did not stand up or ¹tremble before him, Haman was filled with anger against Mordecai.

¹⁰Haman controlled himself, however, went to his house and ¹sent for his friends and his wife ^aZeresh.

¹¹Then Haman recounted to them the glory of his riches, and the ^1anumber of his sons, and every instance where the king had magnified him and how he had ^2bpromoted him above the princes and servants of the king.

¹²Haman also said, “Even Esther the queen let no one but me come with the king to the banquet which she had prepared; and ^atomorrow also I am ¹invited by her with the king.

¹³“Yet all of this ¹does not satisfy me every time I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at ^athe king’s gate.”

¹⁴Then Zeresh his wife and all his friends said to him, “^aHave a ¹gallows fifty cubits high made and in the morning ask the king to have Mordecai hanged on it; then go joyfully with the king to the banquet.” And the ²advice pleased Haman, so he had the gallows made.