Esther 7
New English Translation
The King Has Haman Executed
7 So the king and Haman came to dine[a] with Queen Esther. 2 On the second day of the banquet of wine the king asked Esther, “What is your request, Queen Esther? It shall be granted to you. And what is your petition? Ask for up to half the kingdom, and it shall be done.”
3 Queen Esther replied, “If I have met with your approval,[b] O king, and if the king is so inclined, grant me my life as my request, and my people as my petition. 4 For we have been sold[c]—both I and my people—to destruction and to slaughter and to annihilation. If we had simply been sold as male and female slaves, I would have remained silent, for such distress would not have been sufficient for troubling the king.”
5 Then King Ahasuerus responded[d] to Queen Esther, “Who is this individual? Where is this person to be found who is presumptuous enough[e] to act in this way?”
6 Esther replied, “The oppressor and enemy is this evil Haman!”
Then Haman became terrified in the presence of the king and queen. 7 In rage the king arose from the banquet of wine and withdrew to the palace garden. Meanwhile, Haman stood to beg Queen Esther for his life,[f] for he realized that the king had now determined a catastrophic end for him.[g]
8 When the king returned from the palace garden to the banquet of wine, Haman was throwing himself down[h] on the couch where Esther was lying.[i] The king exclaimed, “Will he also attempt to rape the queen while I am still in the building?”
As these words left the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face. 9 Harbona,[j] one of the king’s eunuchs, said, “Indeed, there is the gallows that Haman made for Mordecai, who spoke out on the king’s behalf. It stands near Haman’s home and is 75 feet[k] high.”
The king said, “Hang him on it!” 10 So they hanged Haman on the very gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. The king’s rage then abated.
Footnotes
- Esther 7:1 tn Heb “to drink”; NASB “to drink wine.” The expression is a metaphor for lavish feasting, cf. NRSV “to feast”; KJV “to banquet.”
- Esther 7:3 tn Heb “If I have found grace in your eyes” (so also in 8:5); TEV “If it please Your Majesty.”
- Esther 7:4 sn The passive verb (“have been sold”) is noncommittal and nonaccusatory with regard to the king’s role in the decision to annihilate the Jews.
- Esther 7:5 tc The second occurrence of the Hebrew verb וַיּאמֶר (vayyoʾmer, “and he said”) in the MT should probably be disregarded. The repetition is unnecessary in the context and may be the result of dittography in the MT.
- Esther 7:5 tn Heb “has so filled his heart”; NAB “who has dared to do this.”
- Esther 7:7 sn There is great irony here in that the man who set out to destroy all the Jews now finds himself begging for his own life from a Jew.
- Esther 7:7 tn Heb “for he saw that calamity was determined for him from the king”; NAB “the king had decided on his doom”; NRSV “the king had determined to destroy him.”
- Esther 7:8 tn Heb “falling”; NAB, NRSV “had (+ just TEV) thrown himself (+ down TEV).”
- Esther 7:8 tn Heb “where Esther was” (so KJV, NASB). The term “lying” has been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons; cf. NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT “was reclining.”
- Esther 7:9 sn Cf. 1:10, where Harbona is one of the seven eunuchs sent by the king to summon Queen Vashti to his banquet.
- Esther 7:9 tn Heb “50 cubits.” See the note on this expression in Esth 5:14.
Esther 7
International Standard Version
Haman is Executed
7 The king and Haman went in to have a drink with Queen Esther. 2 On the second day the king again told Esther as they drank wine, “What’s your petition, Queen Esther? It will be given to you. What’s your request? Up to half of the kingdom, and it will be done.”
3 Queen Esther answered: “If I’ve found favor with you, your majesty, and if it seems good to the king, let my life be given to me as my petition and my people as my request. 4 Indeed, I and my people have been sold to be annihilated, killed, and destroyed. If we had just been sold as male and female slaves, I would have kept quiet, because the trouble wouldn’t have been sufficient to bother the king.”[a]
5 Then King Ahasuerus asked Queen Esther, “Who is this, and where is the person who would dare[b] do this?”
6 Esther replied, “An adversary and an enemy—it’s this wicked Haman!” So Haman was terrified before the king and the queen. 7 The king got up from the banquet in anger and went out to the palace garden, while Haman stood there begging Queen Esther to spare his life,[c] because he realized that the king intended to harm him.[d]
8 When the king returned to the banquet hall from the palace garden, Haman was prostrate on the couch where Esther was. The king asked, “Will this man[e] even assault the queen with me in the house?” The king had no sooner spoken than they covered Haman’s face. 9 Then Harbonah, one of the eunuchs attending the king, observed, “Look there! A pole is standing 50 cubits[f] high at Haman’s house that he prepared for Mordecai, whose report benefitted[g] the king!”
The king said, “Hang[h] him on it.” 10 So they hanged[i] Haman on the pole he had set up for Mordecai, and then the king’s anger subsided.
Footnotes
- Esther 7:4 Or no enemy could compensate for this damage to the king
- Esther 7:5 Lit. whose heart has filled him
- Esther 7:7 Lit. the queen for his life
- Esther 7:7 Lit. to bring evil on him
- Esther 7:8 Lit. he
- Esther 7:9 I.e. about 75 feet; a cubit was about eighteen inches
- Esther 7:9 Lit. who spoke good for
- Esther 7:9 Or Impale
- Esther 7:10 Or impaled
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