[1] So the king and Haman went in to feast with Queen Esther. [2] And on
the second day, as they were drinking wine, the king again said to Esther,
"What is your petition, 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 given me at my petition, and my
people at my request. [4] For we are sold, I and my people, to be
destroyed, to be slain, and to be annihilated. If we had been sold merely
as slaves, men and women, I would have held my peace; for our affliction is
not to be compared with the loss to the king." [5] Then King Ahasu-e'rus
said to Queen Esther, "Who is he, and where is he, that would presume to do
this?" [6] And Esther said, "A foe and enemy! This wicked Haman!" Then
Haman was in terror before the king and the queen. [7] And the king rose
from the feast in wrath and went into the palace garden; but Haman stayed
to beg his life from Queen Esther, for he saw that evil 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 words left the mouth of the king,
they covered Haman's face. [9] Then said Harbo'na, one of the eunuchs in
attendance on the king, "Moreover, the gallows which Haman has prepared for
Mor'decai, whose word saved the king, is standing in Haman's house, fifty
cubits high." [10] And the king said, "Hang him on that." So they hanged
Haman on the gallows which he had prepared for Mor'decai. Then the anger of
the king abated.
