Esther 7
1 So the king and Haman went to eat the second banquet/feast that Queen Esther had prepared.
So the king and Haman came to banquet with Esther 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 again unto Esther on the second day at the banquet of wine, What is thy petition, queen Esther? and it shall he granted thee: and what is thy request? even to the half of the kingdom it shall be performed.
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.
Then Esther the queen answered and said, If I have found favour in thy sight, O king, and if it please the king, let my life be given me at my petition, and my people at 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 we are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish. But if we had been sold for bondmen and bondwomen, I had held my peace, although the adversary could not have compensated for the king’s damage.
5 Then King Xerxes asked her, “Who would want to do such a [terrible] thing? Where is he?”
Then spake the king Ahasuerus and said unto Esther the queen, Who is he, and where is he, that durst presume in his heart to do so?
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, An adversary and an enemy, even this wicked Haman. Then Haman was afraid 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 arose in his wrath from the banquet of wine [and went] into the palace garden: and Haman stood up to make request for his life to Esther the queen; for he saw that there was evil determined against him by the king.
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].
Then the king returned out of the palace garden into the place of the banquet of wine; and Haman was fallen upon the couch whereon Esther was. Then said the king, Will he even force the queen before me in the house? As the word went out of the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face.
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!”
Then said Harbonah, one of the chamberlains that were before the king, Behold also, the gallows fifty cubits high, which Haman hath made for Mordecai, who spake good for the king, standeth in the house of Haman. And the king said, Hang him 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 they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then was the king’s wrath pacified.
