Esther 6

The AIT Bible

The King Honors Mordecai

1On that night the king’s sleep fled, so he ordered the book of records, the chronicles, to be brought, and they were read before the king.

2And it was found written that Mordecai had reported concerning Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs, keepers of the threshold, who had sought to lay a hand against King Ahasuerus.

3Then the king said, “What honor and greatness has been done for Mordecai for this?” And the king’s attendants who served him said, “Nothing has been done for him.”

4And the king said, “Who is in the court?” Now Haman had come into the outer court of the king’s house to speak to the king about hanging Mordecai on the gallows he had prepared for him.

5And the king’s attendants said to him, “Look, 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 should be done for the man whom the king delights to honor?” And Haman said in his heart, “Whom would the king delight to honor more than me?”

7So Haman said to the king, “For the man whom the king delights to honor,

8let them bring royal clothing that the king has worn, and a horse that the king has ridden, and on whose head a royal crown has been set.

9And let the clothing and the horse be handed over to one of the king’s noble officials, and let them clothe the man whom the king delights to honor and parade him on the horse through the city square, proclaiming before him, ‘Thus shall it be done for the man whom the king delights to honor.’

10Then the king said to Haman, “Hurry, take the clothing and the horse as you have said, and do so for Mordecai the Jew who sits at the king’s gate. Do not let a single word fall of all that you have spoken.”

11So Haman took the clothing and the horse and clothed Mordecai, and paraded him through the city square, proclaiming before him, “Thus shall it be done for the man whom the king delights to honor.”

12Then Mordecai returned to the king’s gate, but Haman hurried to his house, mourning and with his head covered.

13And Haman recounted to Zeresh his wife and to all his friends everything that had befallen him. Then his wise men and Zeresh his wife said to him, “If Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall, is of Jewish descent, you will not prevail against him but will surely fall before him.”

14While they were still speaking with him, the king’s eunuchs arrived and hurried to bring Haman to the banquet that Esther had prepared.

Open in the interactive reader →