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So Mordecai went his way and did according to all that Esther had commanded him.

NOW on the third day Esther put on her royal apparel and stood in the inner court of the kings house, opposite the kings house; and the king was sitting upon his royal throne opposite the gate of the house.

And when the king saw Esther the queen standing in the court, she obtained favor in his sight; and the king held out to Esther the golden sceptre that was in his hand. So Esther drew near and held the top of the golden sceptre.

Then Haman went out that day joyful and glad in his heart; but when Haman saw Mordecai sitting in the kings gate, that he neither stood up nor moved for him, Haman was full of indignation against Mordecai.

Nevertheless Haman restrained himself; and when he went to his home, he sent and brought all his friends and Zeresh his wife.

And Haman told them of the glory of his riches and the multitude of his children, and how the king had promoted him and how he had advanced him above the princes and the servants of the king.

Then said Zeresh his wife and all his friends to him, Let a gallows be made fifty cubits high, and in the morning speak to the king that Mordecai may be hanged upon it; then go in merrily with the king to the banquet. And the thing pleased Haman exceedingly; and he had the gallows made.

And the king said, What honor and dignity have been conferred upon Mordecai for this? Then the kings servants and his ministers said to him, There is nothing done for him.

So Haman came in. And the king said to him, What shall be done to the man whom the king delights to honor? Now Haman thought in his heart, Whom would the king delight to honor more than myself?

Let the royal apparel be brought which the king wears and the horse that the king rides, and let the royal crown be set upon his head:

And Mordecai came again to the kings gate. But Haman went to his house mourning and having his head covered.

And Haman told Zeresh his wife everything that had befallen him. Then his friends and Zeresh his wife said to him, If Mordecai is of the Jewish race, before whom you have begun to fall, you shall not prevail against him, but will surely again be humbled before him.

Then King Akhshirash answered and said to Esther the queen, Who is he and where is he who dares to presume in his heart to do so?

And the king arose from the banquet of wine in his wrath and went into the palace garden; and Haman remained to beg for his life from Esther the queen; for he saw that there was evil determined against him by the king.

And Rahbona, one of his eunuchs, said before the king, Behold the gallows fifty cubits high, which Haman had made to hang Mordecai because he had spoken good concerning the king, stands in the house of Haman. Then the king said, Hang him on it.

And Esther came back and spoke again before the king, and fell down at his feet and besought him and entreated him earnestly to put away the mischief of Haman the Agagite and his device that he had devised against the Jews.

And said. If it please the king and the thing seem right before the king and if I have found favor in his eyes, let it be written to reverse the letters devised by Haman the Agagite which he wrote to destroy all the Jews who are in all the kings provinces;

Then King Akhshirash said to Esther the queen, Behold, I have given you the house of Haman, and him they have hanged upon the gal lows because he lifted up his hand against the Jews.

And in every province and in every city whithersoever the kings decree and his commandment came the Jews had a great joy, a feast, and a good day. And many of the people of the land were alarmed; for the fear of the Jews fell upon them.

NOW in the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, on the thirteenth day of the same, when the time drew near for the kings decree and his commandment to be put into execution, in the day when the enemies of the Jews hoped to overpower them (though the edict was turned to the contrary so that the Jews should have rule over those that hated them),