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2 Chronicles 29

Amplified Bible, 2015 (AMP)

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1 Haman went away that day joyful and in good spirits. But when he saw Mordecai at the king's gate refusing to stand up or show fear before him, he was filled with rage toward Mordecai.
2 Nevertheless, Haman controlled himself and went home. There he sent for his friends and his wife Zeresh.
3 Then Haman recounted to them the glory of his riches, the large number of his sons, and every instance in which the king had magnified him and how he had promoted him over the officials and servants of the king.
4 Haman also said, "Even Queen Esther let no one but me come with the king to the banquet she had prepared; and tomorrow also I am invited by her [together] with the king.
5 Yet all of this does not satisfy me as long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king's gate."
6 Then his wife Zeresh and all his friends said to him, "Have a gallows[3] fifty cubits high made, and in the morning ask the king to have Mordecai hanged on it; then go joyfully to the banquet with the king." And the advice pleased Haman, so he had the gallows made.
7 On that night[1] the king could not sleep; so he ordered that the book of records and memorable deeds, the chronicles, be brought, and they were read before the king.
8 It was found written there how Mordecai had reported that Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king's eunuchs who were doorkeepers, had planned to[2] attack King Ahasuerus (Xerxes).
9 The king said, "What honor or distinction has been given Mordecai for this?" Then the king's servants who attended him said, "Nothing has been done for him."
10 So the king said, "Who is in the court?" Now Haman had just entered the outer court of the king's palace to ask the king about[3] hanging Mordecai on the gallows which he had prepared for him.
11 The king's servants said to him, "Look, Haman is standing in the court." And the king said, "Let him come in."
12 So Haman came in and the king said to him, "What is to be done for the man whom the king desires to honor?" Now Haman thought[4] to himself, "Whom would the king desire to honor more than me?"
13 So Haman said to the king, "For the man whom the king desires to honor,
14 let a royal robe be brought which the king has worn, and the horse on which the king has ridden, and on whose head a royal crown has been placed;
15 and let the robe and the horse be handed over to one of the king's most noble officials. Let him dress the man whom the king delights to honor [in the royal robe] and lead him on horseback through the open square of the city, and proclaim before him, 'This is what shall be done for the man whom the king desires to honor.'"
16 Then the king said to Haman, "Quickly take the royal robe and the horse, as you have said, and do this for Mordecai the Jew, who is sitting at the king's gate. Leave out nothing of all that you have said."
17 So Haman took the royal robe and the horse and dressed Mordecai, and led him on horseback through the open square of the city, proclaiming before him, "This is what shall be done for the man whom the king desires to honor."
18 Then Mordecai returned to the king's gate. But Haman hurried to his [own] house, mourning and with his head covered [in sorrow].
19 Then Haman told Zeresh his wife and all his friends everything that had happened to him. Then his wise counselors and his wife Zeresh said to him, "If Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall in status, is of Jewish heritage, you will not overcome him, but will certainly fall before him."
20 While they were still speaking with him, the king's eunuchs (attendants) arrived and hurriedly brought Haman to the banquet which Esther had prepared.
21 So the king and Haman came to drink wine with Esther the queen.
22 And the king said to Esther on the second day also as they drank their wine, "What is your petition, Queen Esther? It shall be granted to you. And what is your request? Even to half of the kingdom, it shall be done."
23 Then Queen Esther replied, "If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it pleases the king, let my life be spared as my petition, and my people [be spared] as my request;
24 for we have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, killed and wiped out of existence. Now if we had only been sold as slaves, men and women, I would have remained silent, for our hardship would not be sufficient to burden the king [by even mentioning it]."
25 Then King Ahasuerus (Xerxes) asked Queen Esther, "Who is he, and where is he, who dares to do such a thing?"
26 Esther said, "An adversary and an enemy is Haman, this evil man." Then Haman became terrified before the king and queen.
27 Then in his fury, the king stood up from drinking wine and went into the palace garden [to decide what he should do]; but Haman stayed to plead for his life from Queen Esther, for he saw that harm had been determined against him by the king.
28 When the king returned from the palace garden to the place where they were drinking wine, Haman was falling on the couch where Esther was. Then the king said, "Will he even attempt to assault the queen with me in the palace?" As the king spoke those words, the servants covered Haman's face [in preparation for execution].
29 Then Harbonah, one of the eunuchs serving the king said, "Now look, there are gallows fifty cubits (75 ft.) high standing at Haman's house, which Haman made for Mordecai, whose good warning saved the king." And the king said, "Hang him on it."
30 So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the king's anger subsided.
31 On that day King Ahasuerus (Xerxes) gave the[1] house of Haman, the enemy of the Jews, to Queen Esther; and Mordecai came before the king, because Esther had disclosed what [[2] relation] he was to her.
32 The king took off his signet ring which he had taken away from Haman, and gave it to Mordecai. And Esther put Mordecai in charge of the house of Haman.
33 Then Esther spoke again to the king and fell down at his feet and wept and implored him to avert the evil plot of Haman the Agagite and his plan which he had devised against the Jews [because the decree to annihilate the Jews was still in effect].
34 Then the king held out to Esther the golden scepter. So Esther arose and stood before the king.
35 Then she said, "If it pleases the king and if I have found favor before him and the matter is proper in the king's view and I am pleasing in his sight, let it be written to revoke the letters devised by Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, which he wrote [in order] to destroy the Jews who are in all the king's provinces.
36 For how can I endure to see the tragedy that will happen to my people? Or how can I endure to see the destruction of my kindred?"