< Esther 7 >

1 So the king and Aman went in to drink with the queen.
So the king and Haman went to feast with Queen Esther.
2 And the king said to Esther at the banquet on the second day, What is it, queen Esther? and what [is] your request, and what [is] your petition? and it shall be [done] for you, to the half of my kingdom.
On this second day, while they were serving wine, the king said to Esther, “What is your petition, Queen Esther? It will be granted to you. What is your request? Up to half of the kingdom, and it will be granted.”
3 And she answered and said, If I have found favor in the sight of the king, let [my] life be granted to my petition, and my people to my request.
Then Queen Esther replied, “If I have found favor in your eyes, king, and if it pleases you, let my life be given to me—this is my petition, and I request this also for my people.
4 For both I and my people are sold for destruction, and pillage, and slavery; [both] we and our children for bondmen and bondwomen: and I consented not to it, for the [is] not worthy of the king's palace.
For we have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, killed, and annihilated. If we had only been sold into slavery, as male and female slaves, I would have kept quiet, for no such distress as this would justify disturbing the king.”
5 And the king said, Who [is] this that has dared to do this thing?
Then King Ahasuerus said to Esther the queen, “Who is he? Where is this person to be found who has filled his heart to do such a thing?”
6 And Esther said, the adversary [is] Aman, this wicked man. Then Aman was troubled before the king and the queen.
Esther said, “The hostile man, that enemy, is this evil Haman!” Then Haman was terrified before the king and the queen.
7 And the king rose up from the banquet to go into the garden: and Aman began to entreat the queen; for he saw that he was in an evil case.
The king got up in a rage from the wine-drinking at the feast and went into the palace garden, but Haman stayed to beg for his life from Queen Esther. He saw that disaster was being decided against him by the king.
8 And the king returned from the garden; and Aman had fallen upon the bed, intreating the queen. And the king said, Will you even force [my] wife in my house? And when Aman heard it, he changed countenance.
Then the king returned from the palace garden into the room where the wine had been served. Haman had just fallen on the couch where Esther was. The king said, “Will he assault the queen in my presence in my own house?” As soon as this sentence came out of the king's mouth, the servants covered Haman's face.
9 And Bugathan, one of the chamberlains, said to the king, Behold, Aman has also prepared a gallows for Mardochaeus, who spoke concerning the king, and a gallows of fifty cubits high has been set up in the premises of Aman. And the king said, Let him be hanged thereon.
Then Harbona, one of the officials who served the king, said, “A gallows fifty cubits tall stands beside Haman's house. He set it up for Mordecai, the one who spoke up to protect the king.” The king said, “Hang him on it.”
10 So Aman was hanged on the gallows that had been prepared for Mardochaeus: and then the king's wrath was appeased.
So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the king's rage died down.

< Esther 7 >