Esther 6–8

The King Honors Mordecai

6That night ¹the king could not sleep. So one was commanded to bring ^athe book of the records of the chronicles; and they were read before the king. ²And it was found written that Mordecai had told of ²Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs, the doorkeepers who had sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus. ³Then the king said, “What honor or dignity has been bestowed on Mordecai for this?”

And 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 entered ^bthe outer court of the king’s palace ^cto suggest that the king hang Mordecai on the gallows that he had prepared for him.

⁵The king’s servants said to him, “Haman is there, standing in the court.”

And the king said, “Let him come in.”

⁶So Haman came in, and the king asked him, “What shall be done for the man whom the king delights to honor?”

Now Haman thought in his heart, “Whom would the king delight to honor more than ^dme?” ⁷And Haman answered the king, “For the man whom the king delights to honor, ⁸let a royal robe be brought which the king has worn, and ^ea horse on which the king has ridden, which has a royal ³crest placed on its head. ⁹Then let this robe and horse be delivered to the hand of one of the king’s most noble princes, that he may array the man whom the king delights to honor. Then ⁴parade him on horseback through the city square, ^fand proclaim before him: ‘Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor!’ ”

¹⁰Then the king said to Haman, “Hurry, take the robe and the horse, as you have suggested, and do so for Mordecai the Jew who sits within the king’s gate! Leave nothing undone of all that you have spoken.”

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

¹²Afterward Mordecai went back to the king’s gate. But Haman ^ghurried to his house, mourning ^hand with his head covered. ¹³When Haman told his wife Zeresh and all his friends everything that had happened to him, his wise men and his wife Zeresh said to him, “If Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall, is of Jewish descent, you will not prevail against ⁱhim but will surely fall before him.”

¹⁴While they were still talking with him, the king’s eunuchs came, and hastened to bring Haman to ^jthe banquet which Esther had prepared.

Haman Hanged Instead of Mordecai

7So the king and Haman went to dine with Queen Esther. ²And on the second day, ^aat the banquet of wine, the king again said to Esther, “What is your petition, Queen Esther? It shall be granted you. And what is your request, up to half the kingdom? It shall be done!”

³Then Queen Esther answered and said, “If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it pleases the king, let my life be given me at my petition, and my people at my request. ⁴For we have been ^bsold, my people and I, to be destroyed, to be killed, and to be annihilated. Had we been sold as ^cmale and female slaves, I would have held my tongue, although the enemy could never compensate for the king’s loss.”

⁵So King Ahasuerus answered and said to Queen Esther, “Who is he, and where is he, who would dare presume in his heart to do such a thing?”

⁶And Esther said, “The adversary and ^denemy is this wicked Haman!”

So Haman was terrified before the king and queen.

⁷Then the king arose in his wrath from the banquet of wine and went into the palace garden; but Haman stood before Queen Esther, pleading for his life, for he saw that evil was determined against him by the king. ⁸When the king returned from the palace garden to the place of the banquet of wine, Haman had fallen across ^ethe couch where Esther was. Then the king said, “Will he also assault the queen while I am in the house?”

As the word left the king’s mouth, they ^fcovered Haman’s face. ⁹Now ^gHarbonah, one of the eunuchs, said to the king, “Look! ^hThe ¹gallows, fifty cubits high, which Haman made for Mordecai, who spoke ⁱgood on the king’s behalf, is standing at the house of Haman.”

Then the king said, “Hang him on it!”

¹⁰So ^jthey ^khanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the king’s wrath subsided.

Esther Saves the Jews

8On that day King Ahasuerus gave Queen Esther the house of Haman, the ^aenemy of the Jews. And Mordecai came before the king, for Esther had told ^bhow he was related to her. ²So the king took off ^chis signet ring, which he had taken from Haman, and gave it to Mordecai; and Esther appointed Mordecai over the house of Haman.

³Now Esther spoke again to the king, fell down at his feet, and implored him with tears to counteract the evil of Haman the Agagite, and the scheme which he had devised against the Jews. ⁴And ^dthe king held out the golden scepter toward Esther. So Esther arose and stood before the king, ⁵and said, “If it pleases the king, and if I have found favor in his sight and the thing seems right to the king and I am pleasing in his eyes, let it be written to revoke the ^eletters devised by Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, which he wrote to annihilate the Jews who are in all the king’s provinces. ⁶For how can I endure to see ^fthe evil that will come to my people? Or how can I endure to see the destruction of my countrymen?”

⁷Then King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther and Mordecai the Jew, “Indeed, ^gI have given Esther the house of Haman, and they have hanged him on the gallows because he tried to lay his hand on the Jews. ⁸You yourselves write a decree concerning the Jews, ¹as you please, in the king’s name, and seal it with the king’s signet ring; for whatever is written in the king’s name and sealed with the king’s signet ring ^hno one can revoke.”

⁹ⁱSo the king’s scribes were called at that time, in the third month, which is the month of Sivan, on the twenty-third day; and it was written, according to all that Mordecai commanded, to the Jews, the satraps, the governors, and the princes of the provinces ^jfrom India to Ethiopia, one hundred and twenty-seven provinces in all, to every province ^kin its own script, to every people in their own language, and to the Jews in their own script and language. ^10lAnd he wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus, sealed it with the king’s signet ring, and sent letters by couriers on horseback, riding on royal horses ²bred from swift steeds.

¹¹By these letters the king permitted the Jews who were in every city to ^mgather together and protect their lives—to ⁿdestroy, kill, and annihilate all the forces of any people or province that would assault them, both little children and women, and to plunder their possessions, ^12oon one day in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of ³Adar. ^13pA copy of the document was to be issued as a decree in every province and published for all people, so that the Jews would be ready on that day to avenge themselves on their enemies. ¹⁴The couriers who rode on royal horses went out, hastened and pressed on by the king’s command. And the decree was issued in ⁴Shushan the ⁵citadel.

¹⁵So Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal apparel of ⁶blue and white, with a great crown of gold and a garment of fine linen and purple; and ^qthe city of ⁷Shushan rejoiced and was glad. ¹⁶The Jews had ^rlight and gladness, joy and honor. ¹⁷And in every province and city, wherever the king’s command and decree came, the Jews had joy and gladness, a feast ^sand a holiday. Then many of the people of the land ^tbecame Jews, because ^ufear of the Jews fell upon them.