Esther 7
1 So the king and Haman went to eat the second banquet/feast that Queen Esther had prepared.
So the king and Aman went in to drink with the queen.
2 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.”
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.
3 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.
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.
4 [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.”
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.
5 Then King Xerxes asked her, “Who would want to do such a [terrible] thing? Where is he?”
And the king said, Who [is] this that has dared to do this thing?
6 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.
And Esther said, the adversary [is] Aman, this wicked man. Then Aman was troubled before the king and the queen.
7 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.
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.
8 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].
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.
9 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!”
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.
10 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).
So Aman was hanged on the gallows that had been prepared for Mardochaeus: and then the king's wrath was appeased.
