< Esther 7 >

1 So the king and Haman went to dine with Esther the queen,
王帶着哈曼來赴王后以斯帖的筵席。
2 and as they drank their wine on that second day, the king asked once more, “Queen Esther, what is your petition? It will be given to you. What is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be fulfilled.”
這第二次在酒席筵前,王又問以斯帖說:「王后以斯帖啊,你要甚麼,我必賜給你;你求甚麼,就是國的一半也必為你成就。」
3 Queen Esther replied, “If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it pleases the king, grant me my life as my petition, and the lives of my people as my request.
王后以斯帖回答說:「我若在王眼前蒙恩,王若以為美,我所願的,是願王將我的性命賜給我;我所求的,是求王將我的本族賜給我。
4 For my people and I have been sold out to destruction, death, and annihilation. If we had merely been sold as menservants and maidservants, I would have remained silent, because no such distress would justify burdening the king.”
因我和我的本族被賣了,要剪除殺戮滅絕我們。我們若被賣為奴為婢,我也閉口不言;但王的損失,敵人萬不能補足。」
5 Then King Xerxes spoke up and asked Queen Esther, “Who is this, and where is the one who would devise such a scheme?”
亞哈隨魯王問王后以斯帖說:「擅敢起意如此行的是誰?這人在哪裏呢?」
6 Esther replied, “The adversary and enemy is this wicked man—Haman!” And Haman stood in terror before the king and queen.
以斯帖說:「仇人敵人就是這惡人哈曼!」 哈曼在王和王后面前就甚驚惶。
7 In his fury, the king arose from drinking his wine and went to the palace garden, while Haman stayed behind to beg Queen Esther for his life, for he realized that the king was planning a terrible fate for him.
王便大怒,起來離開酒席往御園去了。哈曼見王定意要加罪與他,就起來,求王后以斯帖救命。
8 Just as the king returned from the palace garden to the banquet hall, Haman was falling on the couch where Esther was reclining. The king exclaimed, “Would he actually assault the queen while I am in the palace?” As soon as the words had left the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face.
王從御園回到酒席之處,見哈曼伏在以斯帖所靠的榻上;王說:「他竟敢在宮內、在我面前凌辱王后嗎?」這話一出王口,人就蒙了哈曼的臉。
9 Then Harbonah, one of the eunuchs attending the king, said: “There is a gallows fifty cubits high at Haman’s house. He had it built for Mordecai, who gave the report that saved the king.” “Hang him on it!” declared the king.
伺候王的一個太監名叫哈波拿,說:「哈曼為那救王有功的末底改做了五丈高的木架,現今立在哈曼家裏。」王說:「把哈曼掛在其上。」
10 So they hanged Haman on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the fury of the king subsided.
於是人將哈曼掛在他為末底改所預備的木架上。王的忿怒這才止息。

< Esther 7 >