Est 7 | BSB | STEP | So the king and Haman went to dine with Esther the queen,

Esther 7

Esther Pleads for Her People

1 So the king and Haman went to dine with Esther the queen, 2 and as they drank their wine on the second day, the king asked once more, “Queen Esther, what [is] your petition? It will be given to you. What [is] your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be fulfilled.” 3 Then Queen Esther replied, “If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it pleases the king, grant me my life as my petition, and [the lives of] my people as my request. 4 For my people and I have been sold out to destruction, death, and annihilation. If we had merely been sold as menservants and maidservants, I would have held my peace, because no such distress would justify burdening the king.” 5 Then King Xerxes spoke up and asked Queen Esther, “Who is this, and where is the one who would devise ^{▼▼Hebrew whose heart has filled him to do} such a scheme?” 6 Esther replied, “The adversary and enemy is this wicked man— Haman!” And Haman stood in terror before the king and queen.

Haman is Hanged

7 In his fury, the king arose from drinking his wine and went to the palace garden, while Haman stayed behind to beg Queen Esther for his life, for he realized the king was planning a terrible fate for him. 8 Just as the king returned from the palace garden to the banquet hall, Haman was falling on the couch where Esther [was reclining] . The king exclaimed, “Would he actually assault the queen while I am in the palace?” As soon as the words had left the king's mouth, they covered Haman's face. 9 Then Harbonah, one of the eunuchs attending the king, said: “There is a gallows fifty cubits high ^{▼▼That is, about 75 feet or 23 meters} at Haman's house. [He] had it built for Mordecai, who gave the report that saved the king.” “Hang him on it!” declared the king. 10 So they hanged Haman on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the fury of the king subsided.