7:1 So the king and Haman came to dine1 with Esther the queen. 7:2 Then on the second day of the banquet of wine the king asked Esther, “What is your request, queen Esther? It shall be granted to you. And what is your petition? Ask up to half the kingdom, and it shall be done!”
7:3 Queen Esther replied, “If I have met with your approval, O king, and if the king is so inclined, grant me my life as my request, and my people as my petition. 7:4 For we have been sold—both I and my people—to destruction and to slaughter and to annihilation. If we had simply been sold as male and female slaves, I would have remained silent, for such distress would not have been adequate for troubling the king.”
7:5 Then King Ahasuerus responded2 to Esther the queen, “Who is this individual? Where is this person to be found who is presumptuous enough3 to act in this way?”
7:6 Esther replied, “The oppressor and enemy is this evil Haman!”
Then Haman became terrified in the presence of the king and queen. 7:7 In rage the king arose from the banquet of wine and withdrew to the palace garden. Meanwhile, Haman stood to beg Esther the queen for his life,4 for he realized that the king had now determined a calamitous end for him.
7:8 When the king returned from the palace garden to the banquet of wine, Haman was leaning5 on the couch where Esther was. The king exclaimed, “Will he also rape the queen while I am still in the building!”
As the words left the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face. 7:9 Harbona, one of the king’s eunuchs, said, “Indeed, there is the gallows that Haman made for Mordecai, who spoke out in the king’s behalf. It stands near Haman’s home and is fifty cubits high.”
The king said, “Hang him on it!” 7:10 So they hanged Haman on the very gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. The king’s rage then abated.