Esther 7
1 So the king and Haman went to dine with Esther the queen,
So the king and Haman went to eat the second banquet/feast that Queen Esther had prepared.
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.”
As they were drinking wine, the king asked again, “Esther, what do you want me to do [for you? Tell me, and] I will do it for you. Even if [you ask me for] half of my kingdom, I will give it to you.”
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.
Esther replied, “O king, if you are pleased with me, and if you are willing to do [what I ask], save me, and save my people. That is what I want you to do for me.
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.”
[It is as though] I and my people [are cattle that] have been sold to be slaughtered. [It is as though] we have been sold to people who want to completely destroy us. If we had only been sold to people to become their male and female slaves, I would not say anything, because that would have been a matter too small to bother you, 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 King Xerxes asked her, “Who would want to do such a [terrible] thing? Where is he?”
6 Esther replied, “The adversary and enemy is this wicked man—Haman!” And Haman stood in terror before the king and queen.
Esther replied, “[The man who is] our enemy is this evil man Haman!” Then Haman was terrified as he stood in front of the king and 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.
The king became extremely angry. He immediately left his wine and got up and went outside into the palace garden [to decide what to do]. But Haman stayed, in order to plead with Queen Esther that she would spare his life.
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.
He threw himself down on the couch where Esther was reclining. But at that moment the king returned from the garden to the room where they had been eating. [He saw Haman, and assumed he was preparing to rape Esther]. He exclaimed, “Are you going to rape the queen while she is here with me in my own palace?” As soon as the king said that, some officials covered Haman’s head, [as they did to people who were about to be hanged].
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 Harbona, one of the king’s personal officials, said, “[Outside, ] near Haman’s house, there is a (gallows/set of poles for hanging someone). It is 75 feet high. Haman made it for Mordecai, the man who spared your life!” The king said, “Hang him on it!”
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 that he had prepared for hanging Mordecai! And then (the king’s anger cooled off/the king was no longer so angry).
