Esther’s Petition to the King

¹Then the king and Haman came to drink wine with Esther the queen.

²And the king said to Esther on the second day also as they drank their wine at the feast, “What is your petition, Queen Esther? It shall be given you. And what is your request? Even to half of the kingdom it shall be done.”[#7:2 Lit at the banquet of wine; #7:2 Or that which you ask for; #7:2 Or that which you seek , cf. Esth 7:7]

³Then Queen Esther answered and said, “If I have found favor in your eyes, O king, and if it seems good to the king, let my life be given to me as my petition, and my people as my request;[#7:3 Or that which I ask for; #7:3 Or that which I seek , cf. Esth 7:7]

⁴for we have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be killed, and to be caused to perish. Now if we had only been sold as slaves, men and women, I would have remained silent, for the adversity would not be worth the annoyance to the king.”[#7:4 Or enemy could not compensate for the loss; #7:4 Or damage]

⁵Then King Ahasuerus said—he said to Esther the Queen, “Who is this one, and where is this one, who fills his heart to do thus?”

⁶So Esther said, “An adversary and an enemy is this evil Haman!” Then Haman became terrified before the king and queen.

Haman Is Hanged

⁷And the king arose in his wrath from drinking wine and went into the garden of his palace; but Haman stayed to seek for his life from Queen Esther, for he saw that calamity had been determined against him by the king.[#7:7 Lit the banquet of wine]

⁸Now the king returned from the garden of his palace into the place where they were drinking wine. And Haman was falling on the couch where Esther was. So 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.[#7:8 Lit house of the banquet of wine]

⁹Then Harbonah, one of the eunuchs who were before the king, said, “Behold indeed, the gallows—which Haman made for Mordecai who spoke good on behalf of the king—are standing at Haman’s house fifty cubits high!” And the king said, “Hang him on it.”

¹⁰So they hanged Haman on the gallows which he had set up for Mordecai, and the king’s wrath subsided.[#7:10 Lit tree , cf. Deut 21:22-23]