Esther 7:1-8:8

Christian Standard Bible

Haman Is Executed

7 The king and Haman came to feast^[a](A) with Esther the queen. ² Once again, on the second day while drinking wine,^(B) the king asked Esther, “Queen Esther, whatever you ask will be given to you. Whatever you seek, even to half the kingdom, will be done.”^(C)

³ Queen Esther answered, “If I have found favor with you, Your Majesty, and if the king is pleased,^(D) spare my life; this is my request. And spare my people; this is my desire.^{(E) 4} For my people and I have been sold^(F) to destruction, death, and annihilation.^(G) If we had merely been sold as male and female slaves,^(H) I would have kept silent. Indeed, the trouble wouldn’t be worth burdening the king.”

⁵ King Ahasuerus spoke up and asked Queen Esther, “Who is this, and where is the one who would devise such a scheme?” ^[b](I)

⁶ Esther answered, “The adversary and enemy^(J) is this evil Haman.”

Haman stood terrified^(K) before the king and queen. ⁷ The king arose in anger^(L) and went from where they were drinking wine to the palace garden.^[c](M) Haman remained to beg Queen Esther for his life because he realized the king was planning something terrible for him.^{(N) 8} Just as the king returned from the palace garden to the banquet hall,^[d] Haman was falling on the couch^(O) where Esther was reclining. The king exclaimed, “Would he actually violate the queen while I am in the house?” As soon as the statement left the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face.^(P)

⁹ Harbona, one of the king’s eunuchs,^(Q) said, “There is a gallows seventy-five feet^[e] tall at Haman’s house that he made for Mordecai,^(R) who gave the report that saved^[f] the king.”^(S)

The king said, “Hang him on it.”

¹⁰ They hanged Haman on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai.^(T) Then the king’s anger subsided.^(U)

Esther Intervenes for the Jews

8 That same day King Ahasuerus awarded Queen Esther the estate^(V) of Haman, the enemy of the Jews.^(W) Mordecai entered the king’s presence because Esther had revealed her relationship to Mordecai.^{(X) 2} The king removed his signet ring he had recovered from Haman^(Y) and gave it to Mordecai, and Esther put him in charge of Haman’s estate.

³ Then Esther addressed the king again.^(Z) She fell at his feet, wept, and begged^(AA) him to revoke the evil of Haman the Agagite^(AB) and his plot he had devised against the Jews.^{(AC) 4} The king extended the gold scepter^(AD) toward Esther, so she got up and stood before the king.

⁵ She said, “If it pleases the king and I have found favor with him, if the matter seems right to the king and I am pleasing in his eyes,^(AE) let a royal edict be written. Let it revoke the documents the scheming Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite wrote to destroy the Jews who are in all the king’s provinces.^{(AF) 6} For how could I bear to see the disaster that would come on my people?^(AG) How could I bear to see the destruction of my relatives?” ^(AH)

⁷ King Ahasuerus said to Esther the queen and to Mordecai the Jew, “Look, I have given Haman’s estate to Esther,^(AI) and he was hanged on the gallows because he attacked^[g] the Jews.^{(AJ) 8} Write in the king’s name whatever pleases you^(AK) concerning the Jews, and seal it with the royal signet ring.^(AL) A document written in the king’s name and sealed with the royal signet ring cannot be revoked.”^(AM)