World English Bible
- On that night, the king couldn’t sleep. He commanded the book of records of the chronicles to be brought, and they were read to the king.
- It was found written that Mordecai had told of Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs, who were doorkeepers, who had tried to lay hands on the King Ahasuerus.
- The king said, “What honor and dignity has been given to Mordecai for this?” Then the king’s servants who attended him said, “Nothing has been done for him.”
- The king said, “Who is in the court?” Now Haman had come into the outer court of the king’s house, to speak to the king about hanging Mordecai on the gallows that he had prepared for him.
- The king’s servants said to him, “Behold, Haman stands in the court.” The king said, “Let him come in.”
- So Haman came in. The king said to him, “What shall be done to the man whom the king delights to honor?” Now Haman said in his heart, “Who would the king delight to honor more than myself?”
- Haman said to the king, “For the man whom the king delights to honor,
- let royal clothing be brought which the king uses to wear, and the horse that the king rides on, and on the head of which a royal crown is set.
- Let the clothing and the horse be delivered to the hand of one of the king’s most noble princes, that they may array the man whom the king delights to honor with them, and have him ride on horseback through the city square, and proclaim before him, ‘Thus it shall be done to the man whom the king delights to honor!’”
- Then the king said to Haman, “Hurry and take the clothing and the horse, as you have said, and do this for Mordecai the Jew, who sits at the king’s gate. Let nothing fail of all that you have spoken.”
- Then Haman took the clothing and the horse, and arrayed Mordecai, and had him ride through the city square, and proclaimed before him, “Thus it shall be done to the man whom the king delights to honor!”
- Mordecai came back to the king’s gate, but Haman hurried to his house, mourning and having his head covered.
- Haman recounted to Zeresh his wife and all his friends everything that had happened to him. Then his wise men and Zeresh his wife said to him, “If Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall, is of Jewish descent, you will not prevail against him, but you will surely fall before him.”
- While they were yet talking with him, the king’s eunuchs came, and hurried to bring Haman to the banquet that Esther had prepared.
Esther 6 — The Night Providence Turned
“That night the king could not sleep” (New International Version). The Hebrew hints at agency: balaila hahu nadedah shenat hamelech—“the king’s sleep fled.” In a court where gods are named, the true God remains unnamed, yet His touch nudges a page in a record book, and an empire pivots.
The hinge of the book. Many read chapter 6 as Esther’s pivot: fasting (ch. 4) and waiting (ch. 5) ripen into a sudden reversal in ch. 6. The royal annals, a real feature of Achaemenid bureaucracy (see Persepolis archives), become the instrument of justice. Mordecai’s forgotten loyalty—once a quiet footnote—now commands a parade. Haman proposes the highest honors, thinking of himself: king’s robe, king’s horse, public acclamation. Persian reliefs at Persepolis show such investiture; public honor was a political act, not a trinket. God uses that system to humble the proud and lift the faithful.
Two phrases shine. 1) “Sleep fled”—the sleepless king mirrors the sleepless Keeper of Israel (Psalm 121:4). 2) “The man the king delights to honor” (ha’ish asher hamelech hafetz bikaro): delight precedes honor. So too with God, whose remembrance is not mechanical but affectionate (Malachi 3:16; Hebrews 6:10).
Themes for the church. Pride falls under its own weight (Proverbs 16:18; 1 Peter 5:5). Hidden obedience is never lost in God’s memory. Our delays (yesterday: “fasting-shaped delay”) make room for His precise timing. As Hannah sang and Mary echoed, He brings down the arrogant and raises the lowly (1 Samuel 2:7–8; Luke 1:52).
A counsel for exiles. Keep faithful records—acts of quiet loyalty, intercessions, small obediences. History often turns on a night and a page read aloud.
Suggested cross-references: - Psalm 75:6–7; Proverbs 21:1 - Malachi 3:16; Hebrews 6:10 - Luke 14:11; 1 Peter 5:5–6
Hymn: “Be Still, My Soul.”
Prayer: Sleepless Guardian of Your people, teach us to wait without fear and to labor without seeking applause. Remember our small faithfulness, overturn our pride, and in Your perfect hour honor the name of Jesus in and through us. Amen.