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But he despised in his eyes to send forth his hand against Mordecai alone, for they had told him who the people of Mordecai were; therefore Haman sought to destroy all the Jews, the people of Mordecai, who were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus.

Then the king removed his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the adversary of the Jews.

Now Mordecai came to know of all that had been done. And he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the midst of the city and cried out loudly and bitterly.

Then Esther's young women and her eunuchs came and told her, and the queen writhed in great anguish. And she sent garments to clothe Mordecai and to remove his sackcloth from upon him, but he did not accept them.

He also gave him a copy of the written law which had been given in Susa for their destruction, in order to show Esther and to tell her and to command her to go in to the king to implore his favor and to seek him out for her people.

Now it happened on the third day, that Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the king's house in front of the king's rooms, and the king was sitting on his royal throne in the throne room, opposite the entrance to his house.

Now it happened that when the king saw Esther the queen standing in the court, she advanced in favor in his eyes; and the king extended to Esther the golden scepter which was in his hand. So Esther came near and reached out and touched the top of the scepter.

But Haman controlled himself, went to his house, and sent for and brought his friends and his wife Zeresh.

Then Haman recounted to them the glory of his riches and the number of his sons and every instance where the king had magnified him and how he had advanced him above the princes and servants of the king.

Then Zeresh his wife and all his friends said to him, "Have a gallows fifty cubits high made and in the morning say to the king that Mordecai should be hanged on it; then go gladly with the king to the feast." And the word was good to Haman, so he had the gallows made.

So Haman came in, and the king said to him, "What is to be done for the man whom the king delights to honor?" And Haman said in his heart, "Whom would the king delight to honor more than me?"

Then Mordecai returned to the king's gate. But Haman hastened home, mourning, with his head covered.

And Haman recounted to Zeresh his wife and all his friends everything that had happened to him. Then his wise men and Zeresh his wife said to him, "If Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall, is of the seed of the Jews, you will not overcome him, but will surely fall before him."

Then King Ahasuerus said—he said to Esther the Queen, "Who is this one, and where is this one, who fills his heart to do thus?"

And the king arose in his wrath from drinking wine and went into the garden of his palace; but Haman stayed to seek for his life from Queen Esther, for he saw that calamity had been determined against him by the king.

Now the king returned from the garden of his palace into the place where they were drinking wine. And Haman was falling on the couch where Esther was. So the king said, "Will he even assault the queen with me in the house?" As the word went out of the king's mouth, they covered Haman's face.

And the king removed his signet ring, which he had taken away from Haman, and gave it to Mordecai. And Esther set Mordecai over the house of Haman.

Then Esther spoke again to the king, fell at his feet, wept, and implored him to repeal the evil scheme of Haman the Agagite and his scheme which he had devised against the Jews.

Then she said, "If it seems good to the king, and if I have found favor before him and the matter seems proper to the king and I am good in his eyes, let it be written to turn back the letters devised by Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, which he wrote to cause the Jews who are in all the king's provinces to perish.

So King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, "Behold, I have given the house of Haman to Esther, and him they have hanged on the gallows because he had sent forth his hand against the Jews.