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Fluent Translation · Read & Reflect

Esther 7

Esther Reveals Her Petition

So the king and Haman came to drink with Queen Esther. On the second day, while they were drinking wine at the feast, the king said again to Esther, “What is your petition, Queen Esther? It will be given to you. And what is your request? Even to half the kingdom, it will be done.” Then Queen Esther answered and said, “If I have found favor in your eyes, O king, and if it is good to the king, let my life be given to me at my petition, and my people at my request. For we have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, killed, and annihilated. If we had merely been sold as male and female servants, I would have remained silent, for the distress would not have been worth troubling the king.”

Esther Names the Enemy

Then King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther, “Who is he, and where is he, whose heart has filled him to do this?” Esther said, “An adversary and enemy—this wicked Haman!” Then Haman was terrified before the king and queen.

The King’s Anger against Haman

The king arose in his fury from the wine feast and went into the palace garden, but Haman remained to seek his life from Queen Esther, for he saw that disaster had been determined against him by the king. When the king returned from the palace garden to the house of the wine feast, Haman had fallen upon the couch where Esther was. Then the king said, “Will he even assault the queen with me in the house?” As the word went out from the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face.

Haman Is Hanged on His Own Tree

Then Harbona, one of the eunuchs before the king, said, “Look, the tree that Haman made for Mordecai, who spoke good for the king, is standing at Haman’s house, fifty cubits high.” The king said, “Hang him on it.” So they hanged Haman on the tree that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the king’s fury subsided.

Translation guide

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Notes

Translation notes for Esther 7.

v03

Esther finally identifies herself with the threatened people: “my life” and “my people” are one petition.

v04

Esther repeats the exact threefold extermination language of Haman’s decree, making the legal threat unmistakable to the king.

v04

The final clause is difficult. It can mean that enslavement would not justify disturbing the king or that the adversary could not compensate for the king’s loss. TSW follows the first sense while noting the uncertainty.

v05

The king’s question displays either ignorance or rhetorical shock concerning a decree authorized with his own signet. The narrative does not resolve how fully he remembers his earlier participation.

v06

Haman, previously described as “enemy of the Judeans,” is now named before the king as Esther’s personal adversary and enemy.

v07

Haman “seeks his life” from Esther, reversing his earlier control over the lives of the Judeans.

v08

Haman’s fall upon Esther’s couch may be desperate pleading rather than assault, but the returning king interprets the scene in the worst possible way. The narrative does not pause to correct his interpretation.

v08

Covering Haman’s face likely marks a condemned person’s transition toward execution.

v09–10

Haman dies on the same structure prepared for Mordecai, completing one of Esther’s central reversals.

Study help

Vocabulary

Selected source-language vocabulary for Esther 7.

v03

נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh)

“Life” or “self.” Esther asks that her life be given back to her.

v04

מָכַר (makhar)

“To sell.” Esther describes herself and her people as sold into destruction.

v05

מָלֵא לֵב (male lev)

“To fill the heart.” An idiom for becoming inwardly resolved or daring to act.

v06

צַר וְאוֹיֵב (tsar ve-oyev)

“Adversary and enemy.” Esther’s direct designation of Haman.

v07

רָעָה (ra'ah)

“Disaster” or “harm.” Haman sees that judgment has been determined against him.

v08

כָּבַשׁ (kavash)

“To subdue” or “assault.” The king accuses Haman of attempting violence against Esther.

v09

דָּבַר טוֹב (davar tov)

“To speak good.” Mordecai is remembered as the one who acted for the king’s benefit.

v10

שָׁכַךְ (shakhakh)

“To subside.” The king’s fury quiets after Haman’s execution.