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The King Has Haman Executed

So the king and Haman came to dine[a] with Queen Esther. 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.”

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. 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.”

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?”

Esther replied, “The oppressor and enemy is this evil Haman!”

Then Haman became terrified in the presence of the king and queen.

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Footnotes

  1. 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.”
  2. Esther 7:3 tn Heb “If I have found grace in your eyes” (so also in 8:5); TEV “If it please Your Majesty.”
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. Esther 7:5 tn Heb “has so filled his heart”; NAB “who has dared to do this.”

Esther’s Banquet

So the king and Haman went to dine[a] with Queen Esther. And the king again said to Esther, on the second day while they were drinking,[b] “What is your petition, Queen Esther? It will be given to you. What is your request? It will be given to you—even half the kingdom.” Then Queen Esther answered, and she said, “If I have found favor in your eyes,[c] O king, and if it is good to the king, let my life be given to me at my petition and my people at my request; I and my people have been sold to be destroyed and killed, to be annihilated. If we had been sold as male and female slaves I would have kept quiet, because this[d] is not a need sufficient to trouble the king.”[e] And King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther, “Who is he, and where is he, who gave himself the right to do this?”[f] And Esther said, “The adversary and enemy is this evil Haman!” And Haman was terrified before the king and queen.

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Footnotes

  1. Esther 7:1 Literally “to drink”
  2. Esther 7:2 Literally “at the meal of wine”
  3. Esther 7:3 Or “If I have won your favor”
  4. Esther 7:4 Hebrew “there”
  5. Esther 7:4 See HALOT 1437, s.v. NRSV translates, “but no enemy can compensate for this damage to the king”
  6. Esther 7:5 Literally “has filled his heart to do so”