< Esther 7 >

1 So the king and Haman went to dine with Esther the queen,
And the king came with Haman to drink with Esther the queen.
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.”
And the king said unto Esther also on the second day at the banquet of wine, What is thy petition, queen Esther? and it shall be granted thee: and what is thy request? even if it be equal to half the kingdom, it shall still be done.
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.
Then answered Esther the queen and said, If I have found grace in thy eyes, O king! and if it be pleasing unto the king, let my life be given me at my petition, and my people at my request;
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.”
For we have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain and to be exterminated; and if we had been only sold for bondmen and bondwomen, I would have remained silent; for the adversary regardeth not the damage of the king.
5 Then King Xerxes spoke up and asked Queen Esther, “Who is this, and where is the one who would devise such a scheme?”
Then spoke king Achashverosh and said unto Esther the queen, Who is this, and where is he, whose heart hath emboldened him to do so?
6 Esther replied, “The adversary and enemy is this wicked man—Haman!” And Haman stood in terror before the king and queen.
And Esther said, An adversary, and inimical man, this wicked Haman. Then became Haman terrified before the king and the queen.
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.
And the king arose in his fury from the banquet of wine, and went into the palace-garden: and Haman remained behind to make request for his life of Esther the queen; for he saw that there was evil fully determined.
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.
And when the king returned out of the palace-garden into the apartment of the banquet of wine, Haman was fallen upon the couch whereon Esther was: then said the king. Will he even do violence to the queen before me in the house? The word had just come out of the king's mouth, when they covered Haman's face.
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.
Then said Charbonah, one of the chamberlains, before the king, Behold, there is also the gallows, which Haman hath had made for Mordecai, who hath spoken well for the king, standing in the house of Haman, fifty cubits high. And the king said, Hang him thereon.
10 So they hanged Haman on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the fury of the king subsided.
So they hanged Haman on the gallows which he had prepared for Mordecai, and the fury of the king was appeased.

< Esther 7 >