1That night, the king couldn’t sleep. He ordered the book of official records and chronicles to be brought and read to him.
2It was found written in the records that Mordecai had reported Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs who guarded the doorway, who had plotted to harm King Ahasuerus.
3The king asked, “What honor or reward has been given to Mordecai for this?” The king’s servants who attended him replied, “Nothing has been done for him.”
4The king asked, “Who is in the courtyard?” Now Haman had just entered the outer courtyard of the king’s palace to speak to the king about hanging Mordecai on the gallows he had prepared for him.
5The king’s servants told him, “Look, Haman is standing in the courtyard.” The king said, “Let him come in.”
6So Haman came in. The king asked him, “What should be done for the man whom the king wishes to honor?” Haman thought to himself, “Who would the king want to honor more than me?”
7Haman said to the king, "For the man the king wants to honor greatly,
8let them bring royal clothes the king wears, and the horse the king rides, with a royal crown on its head.
9Let one of the king's most respected officials take the clothes and the horse. They should dress the man the king wants to honor and have him ride through the city square, proclaiming before him, 'This is what will be done for the man the king wants to honor!'"
10Then the king said to Haman, "Quickly, take the clothes and the horse, just as you have described, and do all this for Mordecai the Jew, who sits at the king's gate. Make sure nothing you've mentioned is left out."
11So Haman took the clothes and the horse, dressed Mordecai, and had him ride through the city square, proclaiming before him, "This is what will be done for the man the king wants to honor!"
12Mordecai returned to the king's gate, but Haman rushed home, sad and with his head covered.
13Haman told his wife Zeresh and all his friends everything that had happened to him. Then 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 succeed against him; you will surely be defeated by him."
14While they were still talking with him, the king's officials arrived and quickly took Haman to the banquet Esther had prepared.