Esther 6

6 ¹ That night sleep fled from the king, so he ordered the book of records, the chronicles, to be brought, and they were read aloud to him. ² There it was found recorded that Mordecai had exposed Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king's eunuchs who guarded the entrance, when they had plotted to assassinate King Ahasuerus. ³ "What honor and recognition has Mordecai received for this?" the king asked. "Nothing has been done for him," replied the king's attendants who served him.

⁴ "Who is in the court?" the king asked. Now Haman had just entered the outer court of the king's palace to speak to the king about hanging Mordecai on the gallows he had prepared for him.

⁵ The king's attendants told him, "Haman is standing in the court." "Bring him in," the king said.

⁶ When Haman entered, the king asked him, "What should be done for the man the king delights to honor?" Now Haman said to himself, "Whom would the king delight to honor more than me?"

⁷ So Haman said to the king, "For the man the king delights to honor," ⁸ let them bring a royal robe the king himself has worn, and a horse the king has ridden, one with a royal crown set on its head. ⁹ Then let the robe and the horse be entrusted to one of the king's most noble officials. Let them robe the man the king delights to honor, parade him on horseback through the city square, and proclaim before him, "This is what is done for the man the king delights to honor!"

¹⁰ "Hurry," the king said to Haman, "take the robe and the horse, just as you have said, and do this for Mordecai the Jew who sits at the king's gate. Do not leave out a single thing you have mentioned."

¹¹ So Haman took the robe and the horse. He robed Mordecai and paraded him on horseback through the city square, proclaiming before him, "This is what is done for the man the king delights to honor!"

¹² Afterward Mordecai returned to the king's gate, but Haman rushed home, mourning, with his head covered. ¹³ Haman told his wife Zeresh and all his friends everything that had happened to him. Then his advisers and his wife Zeresh said to him, "Since Mordecai, before whom your downfall has begun, is of Jewish descent, you cannot prevail against him but will surely fall before him." ¹⁴ While they were still talking with him, the king's eunuchs arrived and hurried Haman away to the banquet Esther had prepared.