Esther 7
1 Intravit itaque rex et Aman, ut biberent cum regina.
The king and Haman went to Queen Esther's dinner.
2 Dixitque ei rex etiam secunda die, postquam vino incaluerat: Quæ est petitio tua, Esther, ut detur tibi? et quid vis fieri? etiam si dimidiam partem regni mei petieris, impetrabis.
At this second dinner, as they were drinking wine, the king asked Esther again, “What are you really asking for, Queen Esther? It will be given to you. What do you want? You shall have it, as much as half my empire!”
3 Ad quem illa respondit: Si inveni gratiam in oculis tuis o rex, et si tibi placet, dona mihi animam meam pro qua rogo, et populum meum pro quo obsecro.
Queen Esther answered, “If the king looks on me favorably, and if it please Your Majesty to grant me my life, that is my request; and the lives of my people, that is what I ask.
4 Traditi enim sumus ego et populus meus, ut conteramur, jugulemur, et pereamus. Atque utinam in servos et famulas venderemur: esset tolerabile malum, et gemens tacerem: nunc autem hostis noster est, cujus crudelitas redundat in regem.
For my people and I have been sold to be destroyed, killed, and annihilated. If we had only been sold as slaves, I would have kept quiet, because our suffering would not have justified disturbing the king.”
5 Respondensque rex Assuerus, ait: Quis est iste, et cujus potentiæ, ut hæc audeat facere?
The king asked Queen Esther, demanding to know, “Who is this? Where is the man who has dared to do this?”
6 Dixitque Esther: Hostis et inimicus noster pessimus iste est Aman. Quod ille audiens, illico obstupuit, vultum regis ac reginæ ferre non sustinens.
“The man, the opponent, the enemy, is this evil Haman!” Esther replied. Haman shook with terror in front of the king and the queen.
7 Rex autem iratus surrexit, et de loco convivii intravit in hortum arboribus consitum. Aman quoque surrexit ut rogaret Esther reginam pro anima sua: intellexit enim a rege sibi paratum malum.
The king was furious. He got up, leaving his wine, and went out into the palace garden. Haman stayed behind to beg for his life from Queen Esther, for he realized the king planned an evil end for him.
8 Qui cum reversus esset de horto nemoribus consito, et intrasset convivii locum, reperit Aman super lectulum corruisse in quo jacebat Esther, et ait: Etiam reginam vult opprimere, me præsente, in domo mea. Necdum verbum de ore regis exierat, et statim operuerunt faciem ejus.
When the king came back in from the palace garden to the dining room, Haman had thrown himself on the couch where Queen Esther was. The king shouted out, “Is he even going to rape the queen here in the palace, right in front of me?” As soon as the king said this, the servants covered Haman's face.
9 Dixitque Harbona, unus de eunuchis, qui stabant in ministerio regis: En lignum quod paraverat Mardochæo, qui locutus est pro rege, stat in domo Aman, habens altitudinis quinquaginta cubitos. Cui dixit rex: Appendite eum in eo.
Then Harbonah, one of the eunuchs attending the king, said: “Haman set up a pole beside his house for Mordecai, the one whose report saved the king's life. The pole is fifty cubits high.” “Impale him on it!” the king ordered.
10 Suspensus est itaque Aman in patibulo quod paraverat Mardochæo: et regis ira quievit.
So they impaled Haman on the pole that he had set up for Mordecai. Then the anger of the king died down.
