Honor for Mordecai
6 That same night, the king simply couldn’t sleep. He told his secretary to bring the official records and to read them to him. 2 He came across the report about Mordecai, how he had informed the king about the two royal eunuchs who were planning to assault the king while on guard duty. 3 “What did we do to honor or show favor to Mordecai for this?” the king asked.
His servants replied, “You have done nothing for him.”
4 While the king was asking about the goodwill that Mordecai had displayed, Haman showed up in the courtyard. The king asked, “Who is that out in the courtyard?” Haman had come to speak with the king about impaling Mordecai on the pole that he had set up for him.
5 The king’s servants answered, “That’s Haman standing out in the courtyard.”
So the king said, “Call him in.”
6 The king asked Haman, “What should I do for a person whom I really want to honor?”
Haman thought to himself, Whom would the king really want to honor, except me? 7 So Haman said to the king, “Regarding the person whom the king really wants to honor, 8 have your servants bring out a fine linen robe that the king himself has worn and a horse on which the king himself has ridden. 9 Have one of your most honored officials place the robe upon the person whom the king so loves, and let him help that person mount the horse. Have him shout through the city streets, ‘This is what the king does for the person the king honors!’”
10 Then the king said to Haman, “Do all that you said for Mordecai the Jew who serves at the king’s gate. Don’t leave out a single thing that you’ve said!”
11 So Haman took the robe and the horse and put the robe on Mordecai. He led him on horseback through the city square, shouting, “This is what the king does for the person the king really wants to honor!” 12 Then Mordecai returned to the king’s gate, while Haman hurried home, feeling great shame, his head covered. 13 Haman told his wife Zeresh and his friends about everything that had happened to him.
Both his friends[a] and his wife said to him, “You’ve begun to lose face to Mordecai. If Mordecai belongs to the Judean people, and you’ve been humiliated before him, you will indeed fall. You will never be able to hold your own against him, because the living God is with him.”
Haman’s demise
14 They were still discussing this with him when several royal eunuchs arrived. They quickly hurried Haman off to the feast that Esther had prepared.
Footnotes
- Greek Esther 6:13 LXX; MT wise ones