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Esther 6
That night the king passed without sleep, and he commanded
the histories and chronicles of former times to be brought
him. And when they were reading them before him,
They came to that place where it was written, how Mardochai
had discovered the treason of Bagathan and Thares the
eunuchs, who sought to kill king Assuerus.
And when the king heard this, he said: What honour and
reward hath Mardochai received for this fidelity? His
servants and ministers said to him: He hath received
no reward at all.
And the king said immediately: Who is in the court?
for Aman was coming in to the inner court of the king's
house, to speak to the king, that he might order Mardochai
to be hanged upon the gibbet which was prepared for
him.
The servants answered: Aman standeth in the court, and
the king said: Let him come in.
And when he was come in, he said to him: What ought
to be done to the man whom the king is desirous to honour?
But Aman thinking in his heart, and supposing that the
king would honour no other but himself,
Answered: The man whom the king desireth to honour,
Ought to be clothed with the king's apparel, and to
be set upon the horse that the king rideth upon, and
to have the royal crown upon his head,
And let the first of the king's princes and nobles hold
his horse, and going through the street of the city,
proclaim before him and say: Thus shall he be honoured,
whom the king hath a mind to honour.
And the king said to him: Make haste and take the robe
and the horse, and do as thou hast spoken to Mardochai
the Jew, who sitteth before the gates of the palace.
Beware thou pass over any of those things which thou
hast spoken.
So Aman took the robe and the horse, and arraying Mardochai
in the street of the city, and setting him on the horse,
went before him, and proclaimed: This honour is he worthy
of, whom the king hath a mind to honour.
But Mardochai returned to the palace gate: and Aman
made haste to go to his house, mourning and having his
head covered:
And he told Zares his wife, and his friends, all that
had befallen him. And the wise men whom he had in counsel,
and his wife answered him: If Mardochai be of the seed
of the Jews, before whom thou hast begun to fall, thou
canst not resist him, but thou shalt fall in his sight.
As they were yet speaking, the king's eunuchs came,
and compelled him to go quickly to the banquet which
the queen had prepared.
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