Ester 7,1 | New International Reader’s Version

Haman is put to death

1 So the king and Haman went to Queen Esther’s feast. 2 They were drinking wine on the second day. The king again asked, ‘What do you want, Queen Esther? I’ll give it to you. What do you want me to do for you? I’ll even give you up to half of my kingdom.’ 3 Then Queen Esther answered, ‘Your Majesty, I hope you will be pleased to let me live. That’s what I want. Please spare my people. That’s my appeal to you. 4 My people and I have been sold to be destroyed. We’ve been sold to be killed and wiped out. Suppose we had only been sold as male and female slaves. Then I wouldn’t have said anything. That kind of suffering wouldn’t be a good enough reason to bother you.’ 5 King Xerxes asked Queen Esther, ‘Who is the man who has dared to do such a thing? And where is he?’ 6 Esther said, ‘The man hates us! He’s our enemy! He’s this evil Haman!’ Then Haman was terrified in front of the king and queen. 7 The king got up. He was very angry. He left his wine and went out into the palace garden. But Haman realised that the king had already decided what he was going to do to him. So he stayed behind to beg Queen Esther for his life. 8 The king returned from the palace garden to the dinner hall. Just then he saw Haman falling on the couch where Esther was lying. The king shouted, ‘Will he even treat the queen like this? Will he harm her while she’s right here with me in the palace?’ As soon as the king finished speaking, his men covered Haman’s face. 9 Then Harbona said, ‘There’s a pole standing near Haman’s house. He has prepared it for Mordecai. Mordecai is the one who spoke up to help you. Haman had planned to have him put to death. He was going to have the pole stuck through his body. Then he was going to set it up at a place where it would be 25 metres above the ground.’ Harbona was one of the officials who attended the king. The king said to his men, ‘Put Haman to death! Stick the pole through his body! Set it up where everyone can see it!’ 10 So they did. And they used the pole Haman had prepared for Mordecai. Then the king’s anger calmed down.

English Standard Version

1 So the king and Haman went in to feast with Queen Esther. 2 And on the second day, as they were drinking wine after the feast, the king again said to Esther, “What is your wish, Queen Esther? It shall be granted you. And what is your request? Even to the half of my kingdom, it shall be fulfilled.” 3 Then Queen Esther answered, “If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it please the king, let my life be granted me for my wish, and my people for my request. 4 For we have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be killed, and to be annihilated. If we had been sold merely as slaves, men and women, I would have been silent, for our affliction is not to be compared with the loss to the king.” 5 Then King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther, “Who is he, and where is he, who has dared* to do this?” 6 And Esther said, “A foe and enemy! This wicked Haman!” Then Haman was terrified before the king and the queen.

Haman Is Hanged

7 And the king arose in his wrath from the wine-drinking and went into the palace garden, but Haman stayed to beg for his life from Queen Esther, for he saw that harm was determined against him by the king. 8 And the king returned from the palace garden to the place where they were drinking wine, as Haman was falling on the couch where Esther was. And the king said, “Will he even assault the queen in my presence, in my own house?” As the word left the mouth of the king, they covered Haman’s face. 9 Then Harbona, one of the eunuchs in attendance on the king, said, “Moreover, the gallows* that Haman has prepared for Mordecai, whose word saved the king, is standing at Haman’s house, fifty cubits* high.” And the king said, “Hang him on that.” 10 So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the wrath of the king abated.

Ester 7,1 | New International Reader’s Version English Standard Version

Haman is put to death

Haman Is Hanged