Esther Approaches the King

1And it will be in the third day, Esther will put on dominion, and she will stand in the enclosure of the king's house, the interior before the king's house: and the king will sit upon the throne of his kingdom, in the house of the kingdom, before the door of the house. 2And it will be when the king saw Esther the queen standing in the enclosure, she received favor in his eyes: and the king will stretch out to Esther the sceptre of gold which is in his hand: and Esther will draw near and touch upon the head of the sceptre. 3And the king will say to her, What to thee, Esther the queen? what thy seeking? even to the half of the kingdom and it shall be given to thee. 4And Esther will say, If good to the king, will the king come, and Haman, this day, to the drinking which I made for him?

5And the king will say, Hasten ye Haman to do the word of Esther. And the king will go in, and Haman, to the drinking which Esther made. 6And the king will say to Esther at the drinking of wine, What thy asking? and it shall be given to thee: and what thy seeking? even to the half of the kingdom it shall be done. 7And Esther will answer and say, My asking and my seeking: 8If I found favor in the eyes of the king, and if good to the king to give my asking and to do my seeking, the king shall come and Haman to the drinking that I shall make for them, and to-morrow I will do as the king said.

Haman’s Plot against Mordecai

9And Haman went forth in that day being glad and good of heart: and when Haman saw Mordecai in the king's gate, and he rose not up and moved not himself for him, and Haman will be filled with wrath against Mordecai. 10And Haman will contain himself, and will go in to his house; and he will send and cause his friends to come, and Zeresh his wife. 11And Haman will recount to them the glory of his riches, and the multitude of his sons, and all how the king magnified him, and how he lifted him up over the chiefs and servants of the king. 12And Haman will say also, Esther the queen caused none to come in with the king to the drinking which she made but me; and also to-morrow I am called to her with the king. 13And all this was not an equivalent to me in all the time which I see Mordecai the Jew sitting in the king's gate. 14And Zeresh his wife will say to him, and all his friends, Make ye a tree high fifty cubits, and in the morning say thou to the king, and they shall hang Mordecai upon it: and go thou in with the king to the drinking, being glad. And the word will be good before Haman; and he will make the tree.