Esther Intercedes for Her People

7 So the king and Haman came to dine with Queen Esther, ² and as they were drinking wine on the second day, the king asked Esther again, “Whatever you request, even as much as half of the kingdom, it will be given to you.”

³ So Queen Esther answered, “If I have found favor in the eyes of the king, and if it pleases the king, grant me my life—this is my petition. And spare the life of my people—this is my request! ⁴ For we have been sold, I and my people, for destruction, slaughter and annihilation. If we had simply been sold as male and female slaves, I would have remained silent, for such distress would not be worth disturbing the king.”

⁵ King Ahasuerus responded to Queen Esther, “Who is he? Where is the man that presumed to do this?”

⁶ Esther replied, “The man—the adversary and foe—is this wicked Haman!”

Then Haman was terrified before the king and queen. ⁷ Enraged, the king got up from the banquet of wine and withdrew to the palace garden. But Haman stayed behind to plead with Queen Esther for his life, for he realized that the king had determined a catastrophic end for him.

⁸ When the king returned from the palace garden to the banquet hall, Haman was falling on the same couch where Esther was. The king exclaimed, “Will he also assault the queen while she is with me in the palace?”

As soon as these words came out of the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face. ⁹ Harbonah, one of the eunuchs attending the king, said, “Look, a gallows fifty cubits high is standing next to Haman’s house. Haman himself made it for Mordecai, who spoke good on behalf of the king!”^[a]

The king said, “Hang him on it!” ¹⁰ So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the king’s rage subsided.