Esther 7
New American Standard Bible
Esther’s Plea
7 Now the king and Haman came to drink wine with Esther the queen. 2 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.” 3 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; 4 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.” 5 Then King Ahasuerus [b]asked Queen Esther, “Who is he, and where is he, [c]who would presume to do such a thing?” 6 And Esther said, “(F)A foe and an enemy is this wicked Haman!” Then Haman became terrified before the king and queen.
Haman Is Hanged
7 The king then got up (G)in his anger from [d]drinking wine and went into (H)the palace garden; but Haman stayed to beg for his life from Queen Esther, for he saw that harm had been determined against him by the king. 8 Now when the king returned from the palace garden into the [e]place where they had been drinking wine, Haman was falling on (I)the couch where Esther was. Then the king said, “Will he even assault the queen with me in the house?” As the word went out of the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face. 9 Then Harbonah, one of the eunuchs who stood before the king, said, “Indeed, behold, (J)the wooden gallows standing at Haman’s house [f]fifty cubits high, which Haman made for Mordecai (K)who spoke good in behalf of the king!” And the king said, “Hang him on it.” 10 (L)So they hanged Haman on the wooden gallows which he had prepared for Mordecai, (M)and the king’s anger subsided.
Footnotes
- Esther 7:2 Lit at the banquet of wine
- Esther 7:5 Lit said and said to
- Esther 7:5 Lit whose heart has filled him
- Esther 7:7 Lit the banquet of wine
- Esther 7:8 Lit house of the banquet of wine
- Esther 7:9 About 75 ft. or 23 m
Esther 7
EasyEnglish Bible
Haman dies
7 King Xerxes and Haman went to the meal that Queen Esther had prepared. 2 This was the second day that they ate a special meal together. While they were drinking wine, the king said to Esther, ‘Queen Esther, what do you want me to do for you? I will give you whatever you want. Even if you want half of my kingdom, I will give it to you.’
3 Queen Esther replied, ‘Sir, I hope that you are pleased with me. If you agree, I ask you to save my life. Also save the lives of my people. That is what I ask you to do. 4 Someone has sold me and my people as if we are animals. Now they will kill us and completely destroy us all. If we had been sold to become slaves, I would not have spoken to the king. It would not have been important enough for that.’
5 Then King Xerxes asked Queen Esther, ‘Who is this man? Who would even think of anything like that? Where is he?’
6 Esther replied, ‘The enemy of our people is this wicked man Haman!’
Then Haman became very afraid, as he sat there with the king and the queen.[a]
7 The king was very angry and he stood up. He left his wine and he went into the palace garden. Haman realized that the king wanted to destroy him. So he stayed with Queen Esther and he asked her to save his life. 8 Queen Esther was lying down on a bed. Haman threw himself down beside her. At that moment, the king returned from the garden. The king shouted, ‘What is this man doing? He even attacks the queen when she is with me in my palace!’[b]
While the king was still saying this, his servants covered Haman's head.[c]
9 One of the king's eunuchs, Harbona, said, ‘There is a wooden tower near Haman's home. It is 22 metres high. His men built it so that he could hang Mordecai on it. Mordecai is the man who saved the king's life.’
The king said, ‘Hang Haman on the tower until he is dead.’
10 So they took Haman and they hanged him on the tower until he was dead. It was the same tower that Haman had wanted to kill Mordecai on. After that, the king did not feel so angry.
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