Esther’s Plea

Now the king and Haman came to drink wine with Esther the queen. And the king said to Esther on the second day also [a]as they drank their wine at the banquet, “(A)What is your request, Queen Esther? It shall be granted you. And what is your wish? (B)Up to half of the kingdom it shall be done.” Then Queen Esther replied, “(C)If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it pleases the king, let my life be given me as my request, and my people as my wish; for (D)we have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, (E)killed, and eliminated. Now if we had only been sold as slaves, men and women, I would have kept silent, because the distress would not be sufficient reason to burden the king.” Then King Ahasuerus [b]asked Queen Esther, “Who is he, and where is he, [c]who would presume to do such a thing?” And Esther said, “(F)A foe and an enemy is this wicked Haman!” Then Haman became terrified before the king and queen.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Esther 7:2 Lit at the banquet of wine
  2. Esther 7:5 Lit said and said to
  3. Esther 7:5 Lit whose heart has filled him

When the king and Haman came in for the banquet with Queen Esther, the king said to her, “This is the second day we’ve met for wine. What is your wish, Queen Esther? I’ll give it to you. And what do you want? I’ll do anything—even give you half the kingdom.”

Queen Esther answered, “If I please the king, and if the king wishes, give me my life—that’s my wish—and the lives of my people too. That’s my desire. We have been sold—I and my people—to be wiped out, killed, and destroyed. If we simply had been sold as male and female slaves, I would have said nothing. But no enemy can compensate the king for this kind of damage.”

King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther, “Who is this person, and where is he? Who would dare do such a thing?”

Esther replied, “A man who hates, an enemy—this wicked Haman!” Haman was overcome with terror in the presence of the king and queen.

Read full chapter