The Book of Esther

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- Chapter 7 -

Haman is hanged instead of Mordecai

And so the king and Haman entered to drink with the queen.

And the king said to her again on the second day, after he was warmed with wine, “What is your request, Esther, so that it may be given to you? And what do you want done? Even if you ask for half of my kingdom, you will obtain it.”

She answered him, “If I have found favor in your eyes, O king, and if it pleases you, spare my soul, I ask you, and spare my people, I beg you.

For I and my people have been handed over to be crushed, to be slain, and to perish. And if we were only being sold as servants and slaves, the evil might be tolerable, and I would have mourned in silence. But now our enemy is one whose cruelty overflows upon the king.”

And king Artaxerxes answered and said, “Who is this, and of what power, that he would dare to do these things?”

And Esther said, “This is our most wicked enemy and foe: Haman!” Hearing this, Haman was suddenly dumbfounded, unable to bear the faces of the king and the queen.(a)

But the king, being angry, rose up and, from the place of the feast, entered into the arboretum of the garden. Haman likewise rose up to entreat Esther the queen for his soul, for he understood that evil was prepared for him by the king.(b)

When the king returned from the arboretum of the garden and entered into the place of the feast, he found Haman collapsed on the couch on which Esther lay, and he said, “And now he wishes to oppress the queen, in my presence, in my house!” The word had not yet gone out of the king’s mouth, and immediately they covered his face.

And Harbona, one of the eunuchs who stood in ministry to the king, said, “Behold the wood, which he had prepared for Mordecai, who spoke up on behalf of the king, stands in Haman’s house, having a height of fifty cubits.” The king said to him, “Hang him from it.”(c)

And so Haman was hanged on the gallows, which he had prepared for Mordecai, and the king’s anger was quieted.

Footnotes

(a)11:6 “Hostis” means enemy in the sense of the enemy of a nation or a large group, or an enemy in war or battle. The word “inimicus” tends more towards the meaning of a personal enemy.(Conte)

(b)11:7 Or, for his life.(Conte)

(c)11:9 The gallows at Haman’s house has been called “patibulo,” “crucem,” and here, “lignum,” respectively translated as gallows, cross, and wood.(Conte)

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.