Esther 7

New American Standard Bible 1995

Esther’s Plea

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

2And the king said to Esther on the second day also 1as they drank their wine at the banquet, “2What is your petition, Queen Esther? It shall be granted you. And what is your request? 3Even to half of the kingdom it shall be done.”

3Then Queen Esther replied, “4If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it pleases the king, let my life be given me as my petition, and my people as my request;

4for 5we have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, 6to be killed and to be annihilated. Now if we had only been sold as slaves, men and women, I would have remained silent, for the 7trouble would not be commensurate with the 8annoyance to the king.”

5Then King Ahasuerus 9asked Queen Esther, “Who is he, and where is he, 10who would presume to do thus?”

6Esther said, “11A foe and an enemy is this wicked Haman!” Then Haman became terrified before the king and queen.

Haman Is Hanged

7The king arose 12in his anger from 13drinking wine and went into 14the 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.

8Now when the king returned from the palace garden into the 15place where they were drinking wine, Haman was falling on 16the 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.

9Then Harbonah, one of the eunuchs who were before the king said, “Behold indeed, 17the gallows standing at Haman’s house fifty cubits high, which Haman made for Mordecai 18who spoke good on behalf of the king!” And the king said, “Hang him on it.”

10 19So they hanged Haman on the 20gallows which he had prepared for Mordecai, 21and the king’s anger subsided.

Notes

1. Esther 7:2 Lit at the banquet of wine ↩
2. Esther 7:2 Esth 5:6; 9:12 ↩
3. Esther 7:2 Esth 5:3 ↩
4. Esther 7:3 Esth 5:8; 8:5 ↩
5. Esther 7:4 Esth 3:9 ↩
6. Esther 7:4 Esth 3:13 ↩
7. Esther 7:4 Or enemy could not compensate for the loss ↩
8. Esther 7:4 Or damage ↩
9. Esther 7:5 Lit said and said to ↩
10. Esther 7:5 Lit whose heart has been filled ↩
11. Esther 7:6 Esth 3:10 ↩
12. Esther 7:7 Esth 1:12 ↩
13. Esther 7:7 Lit the banquet of wine ↩
14. Esther 7:7 Esth 1:5 ↩
15. Esther 7:8 Lit house of the banquet of wine ↩
16. Esther 7:8 Esth 1:6 ↩
17. Esther 7:9 Esth 5:14 ↩
18. Esther 7:9 Esth 2:22 ↩
19. Esther 7:10 Ps 7:16; 94:23 ↩
20. Esther 7:10 Lit tree ↩
21. Esther 7:10 Esth 7:7, 8 ↩

Esther’s Plea

Haman Is Hanged

Notes

Commentaries on Esther 7