Haman is humiliated before Mordecai
1As he was sleepless that night, the king asked for the Book of Chronicles and ordered that the record of his reign be read to him. 2He came across the passage wherein Mordecai exposed a plot to assassinate King Ahasuerus, the plot of two royal eunuchs guarding the gate, Bagathan and Teresh. 3The king asked, “What reward and honor did Mordecai receive for this?” The king’s attendants answered, “None, your majesty.”
4Haman had entered the outer court, wanting to speak to the king about hanging Mordecai on the gallows he had erected. “Who is there in the court?” the king asked. 5So the king’s attendants answered, “Haman is there, standing in the court.” The king ordered, “Let him come in.”
6When Haman entered, the king asked him, “What should be done to the man the king wishes to honor?”
Haman thought to himself: whom would the king wish to honor but me? 7So he replied, “For the man the king wishes to honor, 8let royal robes be brought which the king has worn, and a horse, which the king has ridden, with a royal diadem on its head. 9The robes and the horse should be handed to one of the king’s noblest officers who should array the man the king wishes to honor and lead him on horseback through the city street, proclaiming be fore him: ‘This is what is done for the man the king is pleased to honor!’”
10The king ordered Haman, “Hurry! Take the robes and the horse and do as you have said for the Jew Mordecai sitting at the royal gate. Do not leave out anything you have recommended.”
11So Haman took the robes and the horse, arrayed Mordecai and led him on horseback through the streets, proclaiming, “This is what is done for the man the king is pleased to honor!”
12After this Mordecai returned to the king’s gate, while Haman hurried home greatly dejected and with his head veiled. 13He told his wife and all his friends everything that had happened, and they said to him, “If Mordecai, who started your downfall, is of Jewish origin, you will not win against him. You will surely be ruined.” 14While they were still talking, the king’s eunuchs arrived and escorted Haman to the banquet Esther had prepared.
