Esther 7

1So the king and Haman came to banquet with Esther the queen.

1So the king and Haman went to eat with Queen Esther.

2And the king said again unto Esther on the second day at the banquet of wine, What is thy petition, queen Esther? and it shall be granted thee: and what is thy request? even to the half of the kingdom it shall be performed.

2On this second day, while they were drinking wine, the king asked Esther again, 'Queen Esther, what is your request? I will give it to you. What do you want? I will give it to you, even if it is half of my kingdom.'

3Then Esther the queen answered and said, If I have found favor in thy sight, O king, and if it please the king, let my life be given me at my petition, and my people at my request:

3Queen Esther answered, 'If you are pleased with me, O king, and if it pleases you, my request is that you save my life and the lives of my people.'

4for we are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish. But if we had been sold for bondmen and bondwomen, I had held my peace, although the adversary could not have compensated for the king’s damage.

4'For my people and I have been sold to be destroyed, killed, and wiped out. If we had only been sold as male and female slaves, I would have kept quiet, because that trouble would not be enough to bother the king.'

5Then spake the king Ahasuerus and said unto Esther the queen, Who is he, and where is he, that durst presume in his heart to do so?

5King Ahasuerus asked Queen Esther, 'Who is he? Where is the man who would dare to do such a thing?'

6And Esther said, An adversary and an enemy, even this wicked Haman. Then Haman was afraid before the king and the queen.

6Esther said, 'Our adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman!' Then Haman was terrified in front of the king and the queen.

7And the king arose in his wrath from the banquet of wine and went into the palace garden: and 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.

7The king got up in a rage, left his wine, and went out into the palace garden. Haman stayed behind to beg Queen Esther for his life, because he realized the king had already decided to punish him.

8Then the king returned out of the palace garden into the place of the banquet of wine; and Haman was fallen upon the couch whereon Esther was. Then said the king, Will he even force the queen before me in the house? As the word went out of the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face.

8When the king returned from the garden to the banquet hall, Haman had fallen on the couch where Esther was reclining. The king shouted, 'Is he going to attack the queen right here in my own house, while I am present?' As soon as the king spoke these words, the servants covered Haman's face.

9Then said Harbonah, one of the chamberlains that were before the king, Behold also, the gallows fifty cubits high, which Haman hath made for Mordecai, who spake good for the king, standeth in the house of Haman. And the king said, Hang him thereon.

9Then Harbonah, one of the king’s eunuchs, said, 'A gallows seventy-five feet high stands near Haman’s house. He built it for Mordecai, the man who spoke up to save the king.' The king commanded, 'Hang him on it!'

10So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then was the king’s wrath pacified.

10So they hanged Haman on the gallows he had built for Mordecai. Only then did the king’s anger calm down.