Esther

11 all his friends and his wife, Zeresh. And Haman told them of his glorious wealth and the great number of his sons, and all the ways the king had ele- vated him, and raised him above all the ministers and the courtiers of the king. | 12 And finally Haman said, “And Esther brought no one else with the king to her | 13 feast but me, and tomorrow too 1 am invited to her along with the king. Yet | all this is worth nothing to me, whenever I see that Jew Mordekhai, sitting | there at the King’s Gate.” 14 Zeresh, his wife, replied, with all his friends: “Let a post be erected, full fifty cubits high. And in the morning, just say the word to the king and Mordekhai shall be hung up on it, and then you will go happy with the king to the feast.” The idea pleased Haman, and he erected the post. 61 The king slept fitfully that night. And he called for the scroll of the records, the Chronicles of the Realm, to be brought to him, to be read out before the 2 king. There it was found written that Mordekhai had reported Bigtan and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs, guards of the threshold, who had planned 3. to lay hands upon King Ahasuerus. The king said, “What honor or greatness has been granted Mordekhai for doing this?” and the king’s pages, those who were attending him, said, “Nothing has been done for him at all.’ 4 “Who isin the courtyard?” asked the king. And Haman had come to the outer courtyard of the king’s palace, to speak to the king about hanging Mordekhai 5 onthe post he had prepared for him. The king’s pages said to him, “Ah, there is Haman standing in the courtyard,” and the king said, “Show him in!” 6 In came Haman, and the king asked him, “What should be done for a man the king wishes to honor?” Said Haman to himself, “Who could the king wish to honor more than me?” 7 So Haman told the king, “The man the king wishes to honor - well, let the clothes of royalty be brought forth, clothes that the king himself has worn, and a horse on which the king has ridden, with a royal crown placed upon 9 its head; and let these clothes and the horse be entrusted to one of the king’s noble ministers, to dress the man whom the king has a wish to honor. And let him lead that man, riding on the horse, across the town square, crying out before him as they go, “This is what is done for the man the king wishes to honor!’” 10 “Hurry now!” said the king to Haman; “Take the clothes and the horse as you have said, and do just that for Mordekhai the Jew, who sits at the King’s Gate - let no detail fall short of what you have described!” 11 So Haman took the clothes and the horse and dressed Mordekhai, and led