1 That night sleep escaped the king, so he ordered the book of records, the chronicles, to be brought, and they were read to the king.
2 In it was found the record that Mordecai had reported Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king's eunuchs who guarded the entrance, who had plotted to assassinate King Ahasuerus.
3 "What honor or recognition has Mordecai received for this?" the king asked. His personal attendants answered, "Nothing has been done for him."
4 The king asked, "Who is in the court?" Haman had just entered the outer court of the palace to speak to the king about hanging Mordecai on the gallows he had set up for him.
5 The king's attendants told him, "Haman is standing in the court." "Let him come in," the king said.
6 When Haman entered, the king asked him, "What should be done for the man the king takes pleasure in honoring?" Haman thought to himself, "Who is there the king would rather honor than me?"
7 So Haman answered the king, "For the man the king takes pleasure in honoring,
8 have them bring a royal robe the king himself has worn and a horse the king himself has ridden, one with a royal crest placed on its head.
9 Let the robe and the horse be entrusted to one of the king's most noble officials, and let them dress the man the king takes pleasure in honoring and lead him on the horse through the city square, calling out before him, 'This is what is done for the man the king takes pleasure in honoring!'"
10 The king told Haman, "Go at once, take the robe and the horse as you have said, and do this for Mordecai the Jew, who sits at the king's gate. Do not leave out anything you have suggested."
11 So Haman took the robe and the horse. He dressed Mordecai and led him on horseback through the city square, calling out before him, "This is what is done for the man the king takes pleasure in honoring!"
12 Afterward Mordecai went back to the king's gate, but Haman rushed home, grieving, with his head covered.
13 Haman told his wife Zeresh and all his friends everything that had happened to him. His advisers and his wife Zeresh said to him, "Since Mordecai, before whom you have started to fall, is of Jewish descent, you cannot win against him; you will certainly fall before him."
14 While they were still talking with him, the king's eunuchs arrived and hurried Haman off to the feast Esther had prepared.