Greek Esther 7

Revised Standard Version

7 So the king and Haman went in to feast with Queen Esther. ² And on the second day, as they were drinking wine, the king again said to Esther, “What is your petition, Queen Esther? It shall be granted you. And what is your request? Even to the half of my kingdom, it shall be fulfilled.” ³ Then Queen Esther answered, “If I have found favor in your 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 For we are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain, and to be annihilated. If we had been sold merely as slaves, men and women, I would have held my peace; for our affliction is not to be compared with the loss to the king.” ⁵ Then King Ahasu-e′rus said to Queen Esther, “Who is he, and where is he, that would presume to do this?” ⁶ And Esther said, “A foe and enemy! This wicked Haman!” Then Haman was in terror before the king and the queen. ⁷ And the king rose from the feast in wrath and went into the palace garden; but Haman stayed to beg his life from Queen Esther, for he saw that evil was determined against him by the king. ⁸ And the king returned from the palace garden to the place where they were drinking wine, as Haman was falling on the couch where Esther was; and the king said, “Will he even assault the queen in my presence, in my own house?” As the words left the mouth of the king, they covered Haman’s face. ⁹ Then said Harbo′na, one of the eunuchs in attendance on the king, “Moreover, the gallows which Haman has prepared for Mor′decai, whose word saved the king, is standing in Haman’s house, fifty cubits high.” ¹⁰ And the king said, “Hang him on that.” So they hanged Haman on the gallows which he had prepared for Mor′decai. Then the anger of the king abated.