h is set upon his head: and let the apparel and the horse be
delivered to the hand of one of the king's most noble princes, that
they may array the man therewith whom the king delighteth to honor,
and cause him to ride on horseback through the street of the city, and
proclaim before him, 'Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king
delighteth to honor.'"

Then the king said to Haman, "Make haste, and take the apparel and the
horse, as thou hast said, and do even so to Mordecai the Jew, that
sitteth at the king's gate: let nothing fail of all that thou hast
spoken."

{72}

Then took Haman the apparel and the horse, and arrayed Mordecai, and
caused him to ride through the street of the city, and proclaimed
before him, 'Thus shall it be done unto the man whom the king
delighteth to honor.'"

And Mordecai came again to the king's gate. But Haman hasted to his
house, mourning and having his head covered. And Haman recounted unto
Zeresh his wife and all his friends everything that had befallen him.

Then said his wise men, and Zeresh his wife unto him, "If Mordecai,
before whom thou hast begun to fall, be of the race of the Jews, thou
shalt not prevail against him, but shalt surely fall before him."

While they were yet talking with him, came the king's chamberlains,
and hasted to bring Haman unto the banquet that Esther had prepared.

So the king and Haman came to the banquet with Esther the queen. And
the king said again to Esther on the second day at the banquet of
wine, "What is thy petition, Queen Esther? and it shall be granted
thee: and what is thy request? even to the half of the kingdom it
shall be performed."

Then Esther the queen answered and said, "If I have found favor in thy
sight, O king, and if it please the king, let my life be given me at my
petition, and my people at my request: for we are sold, I and my people,
to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish. But if we had been sold for
bondmen and bondwomen, I had held my peace, although the adversary could
not have compensated for the king's damage."

{73}

Then spoke the king Ahasuerus and said to Esther the queen, "Who is
he, and where is he, that dares presume in his heart to do so?"

And Esther said, "An adversary and an enemy, even this wicked Haman."

Then Haman was afraid before the king and the queen.

And the king arose in his wrath from the banquet of wine and went into
the palace garden: and Haman stood up to make request for h