Sometime later King Ahasuerus promoted Hammedatha the Agagite's son Haman, elevating him to a position above all the other officials who were with him.

All the king's ministers who were in the king's gate would kneel and bow down to Haman, because the king had commanded that Haman be honored in this way. Mordecai, however, would not kneel and would not bow down.

They asked him this day after day, and he would not listen to them, so they told Haman to see whether or not Mordecai would get away with his disobedience, since he also had told them that he was Jewish.

When Haman saw that Mordecai would not kneel and bow down to him, he flew into a rage.

Because they had told him who the people of Mordecai were, Haman found it unacceptable to kill only Mordecai. So Haman sought to destroy all of Mordecai's people, the Jewish people, who were in all the kingdom of Ahasuerus.

In the twelfth year of the reign of King Ahasuerus, in the first month (the month Nisan), the (that is, the lot) was cast in Haman's presence to determine the best day and month to carry out his plot. The lot indicated the twelfth month, the month Adar.

Then Haman told King Ahasuerus, "There is a certain people scattered and divided among the people throughout the provinces of your kingdom. Their laws are different than all the other people, they don't obey the king's laws, and it's not in the king's best interest to leave them alone.

The king removed his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Hammedatha the Agagite's son Haman, the enemy of the Jewish people.

The king told Haman, "The silver is given to you, along with the people, to do with them as you see fit."

The king's scribes were summoned on the thirteenth day of the first month, and all that Haman commanded was written to the regional authorities of the king, to the governors who were over each province, and to the officials of each people. This order was translated in the name of King Ahasuerus into the language of each province and bore the seal of the king's signet ring.

The couriers went out, urged on by the king's command, and the edict was issued in Susa the capital. The king and Haman sat down to drink, while the city of Susa was thrown into confusion.

Mordecai told him everything that had happened and the exact amount of money that Haman had said he would pay into the king's treasury in order to destroy the Jewish people.

Esther replied, "If it pleases the king, let the king and Haman come today to the banquet I've prepared for him."

The king responded, "Bring Haman quickly so we may do what Esther has requested." So the king and Haman went to the banquet that Esther had prepared.

If I've found favor with the king and if it pleases the king to grant my petition and to honor my request, let the king and Haman come to the banquet that I'll prepare for them tomorrow, and then I'll do what the king has said."

Haman went out that day pleased and happy, but when Haman saw Mordecai in the king's gate, and that he did not stand up and tremble in his presence, Haman was furious with Mordecai.

Haman restrained himself, went to his house, and sent for his friends and his wife Zeresh.

Then Haman told them about his splendid wealth, the number of his sons, all the ways the king had honored him, and that he had promoted him above all the other officials and ministers of the king.

Then Haman said, "Even Queen Esther brought no one except me with the king to the banquet that she held. Furthermore, I (along with the king) have also been invited by her tomorrow.

Then Zeresh his wife and all his friends said, "Have a pole made 50 cubits high, and then in the morning speak to the king and have Mordecai hanged on it. Then go with the king to the banquet happy." This advice pleased Haman, and he had the pole made.

The king said, "Who is in the courtyard?" Now Haman had just entered the outer courtyard of the palace to speak to the king about having Mordecai hanged on the pole he had set up.

The king's young men told him, "Look, Haman is standing in the courtyard." The king said, "Let him come in."

After Haman came in, the king asked him, "What should be done for the man whom the king desires to honor?"

Haman told himself, "Whom would the king desire to honor more than me?" Haman answered the king, "For a man whom the king desires to honor,

Then the king told Haman, "Quick! Take the clothes and the horse just as you have suggested and do this for Mordecai the Jew who sits in the king's gate. And don't let anything you've suggested fall through the cracks."

So Haman took the clothes and the horse, dressed Mordecai, and put him on the horse in the main square of the city. He cried out in front of him, "This is what is done for the man whom the king desires to honor."

Then Mordecai returned to the king's gate, while Haman hurried to his house, mourning and hiding his face.

Haman told his wife Zeresh and all his friends everything that had happened to him. His wise friends and his wife Zeresh told him, "If Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall, is one of the Jewish people, you won't prevail against him. Instead, you will surely fall before him."

The king and Haman went in to have a drink with Queen Esther.

Esther replied, "An adversary and an enemy it's this wicked Haman!" So Haman was terrified before the king and the queen.

The king got up from the banquet in anger and went out to the palace garden, while Haman stood there begging Queen Esther to spare his life, because he realized that the king intended to harm him.

When the king returned to the banquet hall from the palace garden, Haman was prostrate on the couch where Esther was. The king asked, "Will this man even assault the queen with me in the house?" The king had no sooner spoken than they covered Haman's face.

Then Harbonah, one of the eunuchs attending the king, observed, "Look there! A pole is standing 50 cubits high at Haman's house that he prepared for Mordecai, whose report benefitted the king!"

The king said, "Hang him on it." So they hanged Haman on the pole he had set up for Mordecai, and then the king's anger subsided.

That day King Ahasuerus gave Queen Esther the property of Haman, the enemy of the Jewish people, and Mordecai came into the king's presence because Esther had told him how Mordecai was related to her.

The king took off his signet ring that he had taken from Haman and gave it to Mordecai. Esther then put Mordecai in charge of Haman's property.

Then Esther spoke to the king again and fell at his feet. She wept and pleaded with him for mercy to overturn the evil plan devised by Haman the Agagite and his plot against the Jewish people.

She said, "If it pleases the king, and if I've found favor with him, and if the matter is proper in the king's opinion, and if I'm pleasing to the king, let an order be issued revoking the letters devised by Hammedatha the Agagite's son Haman, which ordered the destruction of the Jewish people throughout the king's provinces.

King Ahasuerus told Queen Esther and Mordecai the Jew, "Look, I've given Haman's property to Esther, and they have hanged him on the pole because he tried to harm the Jewish people.

the ten sons of Hammedatha's son Haman, the enemy of the Jewish people, but they did not lay their hands on the spoils.

The king told Queen Esther, "In Susa the capital the Jewish people have killed and destroyed 500 people, including Haman's ten sons. What have they done in the rest of the king's provinces? Now what's your petition? It will be given to you. What's your further request? It will be done."

Then Esther said, "If it pleases the king, let it also be granted to the Jewish people in Susa to do tomorrow what the edict allowed them to do today, and let Haman's ten sons be hanged on poles."

The king said, "Let this be done." So an edict was issued in Susa, and Haman's ten sons were hanged on poles.

since Hammedatha's son Haman, the enemy of the Jewish people, had plotted against the Jewish people to destroy them, and he had cast the (that is, the lot) to determine when to confuse and destroy them.

But when Esther came before the king, he ordered through a letter that the evil plot that Haman had devised against the Jewish people be rescinded, and that he and his sons be hanged on poles.