The Book of Esther

⭑ Berean Study Bible :: World English Bible Catholic ⭑

- Chapter 7 -

Haman is hanged instead of Mordecai

So the king and Haman went to dine with Esther the queen,

and as they drank their wine on that second day, the king asked once more, “Queen Esther, what is your petition? It will be given to you. What is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be fulfilled.”

Queen Esther replied, “If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it pleases the king, grant me my life as my petition, and the lives of my people as my request.

For my people and I have been sold out to destruction, death, and annihilation. If we had merely been sold as menservants and maidservants, I would have remained silent, because no such distress would justify burdening the king.”

Then King Xerxes spoke up and asked Queen Esther, “Who is this, and where is the one who would devise (a) such a scheme?”

Esther replied, “The adversary and enemy is this wicked man—Haman!” And Haman stood in terror before the king and queen.

In his fury, the king arose from drinking his wine and went to the palace garden, while Haman stayed behind to beg Queen Esther for his life, for he realized that the king was planning a terrible fate for him.

Just as the king returned from the palace garden to the banquet hall, Haman was falling on the couch where Esther was reclining. The king exclaimed, “Would he actually assault the queen while I am in the palace?” As soon as the words had left the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face.

Then Harbonah, one of the eunuchs attending the king, said: “There is a gallows fifty cubits high

(b)

at Haman’s house. He had it built for Mordecai, who gave the report that saved the king.” “Hang him on it!” declared the king.

So they hanged Haman on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the fury of the king subsided.

Footnotes

(a)7:5 Hebrew whose heart has filled him to do

(b)7:9 50 cubits is approximately 75 feet or 22.9 meters high.

Haman is hanged instead of Mordecai

So the king and Haman came to banquet with Esther the queen.

The king said again to Esther on the second day at the banquet of wine, “ What is your petition, queen Esther? It shall be granted you. What is your request? Even to the half of the kingdom it shall be performed.”

Then Esther the queen answered, “If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it pleases the king, let my life be given me at my petition, and my people at my request.

For we are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish. But if we had been sold for male and female slaves, I would have held my peace, although the adversary could not have compensated for the king’s loss.”

Then King Ahasuerus said to Esther the queen, “ Who is he, and where is he who dared presume in his heart to do so?”

Esther said, “An adversary and an enemy, even this wicked Haman!” Then Haman was afraid before the king and the queen.

The king arose in his wrath from the banquet of wine and went into the palace garden. Haman stood up to make request for his life to Esther the queen, for he saw that there was evil determined against him by the king.

Then the king returned out of the palace garden into the place of the banquet of wine; and Haman had fallen on the couch where Esther was. Then the king said, “ Will he even assault the queen in front of me in the house?” As the word went out of the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face.

Then Harbonah, one of the eunuchs who were with the king, said, “ Behold, the gallows fifty cubits(a) high, which Haman has made for Mordecai, who spoke good for the king, is standing at Haman’s house.” The king said, “ Hang him on it!”

So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the king’s wrath was pacified.

Footnotes

(a)7:9 A cubit is the length from the tip of the middle finger to the elbow on a man’s arm, or about 18 inches or 46 centimeters.