^6:1Throughout that night the king was unable to sleep,¹ so he asked for the book containing the historical records² to be brought. As the records³ were being read in the king’s presence, ^6:2it was found written that Mordecai had disclosed that Bigthana⁴ and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs who guarded the entrance, had plotted to assassinate⁵ King Ahasuerus.

^6:3The king asked, “What great honor⁶ was bestowed on Mordecai because of this?” The king’s attendants who served him responded, “Not a thing was done for him.”

^6:4Then the king said, “Who is that in the courtyard?” Now Haman had come to the outer courtyard of the palace to suggest that the king hang Mordecai on the gallows that he had constructed for him. ^6:5The king’s attendants said to him, “It is Haman who is standing in the courtyard.” The king said, “Let him enter.”

^6:6So Haman came in, and the king said to him, “What should be done for the man whom the king wishes to honor?” Haman thought to himself,⁷ “Who is it that the king would want to honor more than me?” ^6:7So Haman said to the king, “For the man whom the king wishes to honor, ^6:8let them bring royal attire which the king himself has worn and a horse on which the king himself has ridden—one bearing the royal insignia!⁸^6:9Then let this clothing and this horse be given to one of the king’s noble officials. Let him⁹ then clothe the man whom the king wishes to honor, and let him lead him about through the plaza of the city on the horse, calling¹⁰ before him, ‘So shall it be done to the man whom the king wishes to honor!’ ”

^6:10The king then said to Haman, “Go quickly! Take the clothing and the horse, just as you have described, and do as you just indicated to Mordecai the Jew who sits at the king’s gate. Don’t neglect¹¹ a single thing of all that you have said.”

^6:11So Haman took the clothing and the horse, and he clothed Mordecai. He led him about on the horse throughout the plaza of the city, calling before him, “So shall it be done to the man whom the king wishes to honor!”

^6:12Then Mordecai again sat at the king’s gate, while Haman hurried away to his home, mournful and with a veil over his head. ^6:13Haman then related to his wife Zeresh and to all his friends everything that had happened to him. These wise men,¹² along with his wife Zeresh, said to him, “If indeed this Mordecai before whom you have begun to fall is Jewish,¹³ you will not prevail against him. No, you will surely fall before him!”

^6:14While they were still speaking with him, the king’s eunuchs arrived. They quickly brought Haman to the banquet that Esther had prepared.

The King Has Haman Executed

^7:1So the king and Haman came to dine¹ with Queen Esther. ^7:2On 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!”

^7:3Queen Esther replied, “If I have met with your approval,² O king, and if the king is so inclined, grant me my life as my request, and my people as my petition. ^7:4For we have been sold³—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 sufficient for troubling the king.”

^7:5Then King Ahasuerus responded⁴ to Queen Esther, “Who is this individual? Where is this person to be found who is presumptuous enough⁵ to act in this way?”

^7:6Esther replied, “The oppressor and enemy is this evil Haman!”

Then Haman became terrified in the presence of the king and queen. ^7:7In rage the king arose from the banquet of wine and withdrew to the palace garden. Meanwhile, Haman stood to beg Queen Esther for his life,⁶ for he realized that the king had now determined a catastrophic end for him.⁷

^7:8When the king returned from the palace garden to the banquet of wine, Haman was throwing himself down⁸ on the couch where Esther was lying.⁹ The king exclaimed, “Will he also attempt to rape the queen while I am still in the building!”

As these words left the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face. ^7:9Harbona,¹⁰ 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 seventy-five feet¹¹ high.”

The king said, “Hang him on it!” ^7:10So they hanged Haman on the very gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. The king’s rage then abated.

The King Acts to Protect the Jews

^8:1On that same day King Ahasuerus gave the estate¹ of Haman, that adversary of the Jews, to Queen Esther. Now Mordecai had come before the king, for Esther had revealed how he was related to her. ^8:2The king then removed his signet ring (the very one he had taken back from Haman) and gave it to Mordecai. And Esther designated Mordecai to be in charge of Haman’s estate.

^8:3Then Esther again spoke with the king, falling at his feet. She wept and begged him for mercy, that he might nullify the evil of Haman the Agagite which he had intended against the Jews.²^8:4When the king extended to Esther the gold scepter, she³ arose and stood before the king.

^8:5She said, “If the king is so inclined and if I have met with his approval and if the matter is agreeable to the king and if I am attractive to him, let an edict be written rescinding those recorded intentions of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite,⁴ which he wrote in order to destroy the Jews who are throughout all the king’s provinces. ^8:6For how can I watch the calamity that will befall my people, and how can I watch the destruction of my relatives?”⁵

^8:7King Ahasuerus replied to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, “Look, I have already given Haman’s estate to Esther, and he has been hanged on the gallows because he took hostile action⁶ against the Jews. ^8:8Now you write in the king’s name whatever in your opinion is appropriate concerning the Jews and seal it with the king’s signet ring. Any decree that is written in the king’s name and sealed with the king’s signet ring cannot be rescinded.

^8:9The king’s scribes were quickly⁷ summoned—in the third month (that is, the month of Sivan), on the twenty-third day.⁸ They wrote out⁹ everything that Mordecai instructed to the Jews and to the satraps and the governors and the officials of the provinces all the way from India to Ethiopia¹⁰—a hundred and twenty-seven provinces in all—to each province in its own script and to each people in their own language, and to the Jews according to their own script and their own language. ^8:10Mordecai¹¹ wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed it with the king’s signet ring. He then sent letters by couriers on horses, who rode royal horses that were very swift.

^8:11The king thereby allowed the Jews who were in every city to assemble and to stand up for themselves—to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate any army of whatever people or province that should become their adversaries, including their women and children,¹² and to confiscate their property. ^8:12This was to take place on a certain day throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus—namely, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month (that is, the month of Adar). ^8:13A copy of the edict was to be presented as law throughout each and every province and made known to all peoples, so that the Jews might be prepared on that¹³ day to avenge themselves from their enemies.

^8:14The couriers who were riding the royal horses went forth with the king’s edict without delay.¹⁴ And the law was presented in Susa the citadel as well.

^8:15Now Mordecai went out from the king’s presence in purple and white royal attire, with a large golden crown and a purple linen mantle. The city of Susa shouted with joy.¹⁵^8:16For the Jews there was radiant happiness and joyous honor.¹⁶^8:17Throughout every province and throughout every city where the king’s edict and his law arrived, the Jews experienced happiness and joy, banquets and holidays. Many of the resident peoples¹⁷ pretended¹⁸ to be Jews, because the fear of the Jews had overcome them.¹⁹

Read in Logos

Footnotes

1 Heb “and the sleep of the king fled.” In place of the rather innocuous comment of the Hebrew text, the reads here, “And the Lord removed the sleep from the king.” The Greek text thus understands the statement in a more overtly theological way than does the Hebrew text, although even in the Hebrew text there may be a hint of God’s providence at work in this matter. After all, this event is crucial to the later reversal of Haman’s plot to destroy the Jewish people, and a sympathetic reader is likely to look beyond the apparent coincidence.
2 Heb “the book of the remembrances of the accounts of the days”; “the chronicle of notable events.”
3 Heb “they”; the referent (the records) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
4 This individual is referred to as “Bigthan,” a variant spelling of the name, in Esth 2:21.
5 Heb “to send a hand against”; “had sought to lay hands on.”
6 Heb “honor and greatness.” The expression is a hendiadys (see the note on for an explanation of this figure).
7 Heb “said in his heart” (so ); , “said to himself.”
8 The final comment (“one on whose head the royal crown has been”) is not included in the . Heb “a royal crown on his head.” The reference is to an official decoration or headdress for horses in royal service. See כֶּתֶר; 4:477 כֶּתֶר. Cf. “a royal ornament”; “a fancy headdress.”
9 The present translation reads with the וְהִלְבִּישׁוֹ (véhilbisho, “and he will clothe him”) rather than the reading of the וְהִלְבִּישׁוּ (véhilbishu, “and they will clothe”). The reading of the is also followed by , , , , and . Likewise, the later verbs in this verse (“cause him to ride” and “call”) are better taken as singulars rather than plurals.
10 Heb “and let them call” (see the previous note).
11 Heb “do not let fall”; “do not fall short.”
12 Part of the Greek tradition and the understand this word as “friends,” probably reading the Hebrew term רֲכָמָיו (rakhamayv, “his friends”) rather than the reading of the חֲכָמָיו (hakhamayv, “his wise men”). Cf. “all his friends”; the two readings appear to be conflated by as “those wise friends of his.”
13 Heb “from the seed of the Jews”; , similar.
1 Heb “to drink”; “to drink wine.” The expression is a metaphor for lavish feasting, cf. “to feast”; “to banquet.”
2 Heb “If I have found grace in your eyes” (so also in 8:5); “If it please Your Majesty.”
3 The passive verb (“have been sold”) is noncommittal and nonaccusatory with regard to the king’s role in the decision to annihilate the Jews.
4 The second occurrence of the Hebrew verb וַיּאמֶר (vayyo’mer, “and he said”) in the should probably be disregarded. The repetition is unnecessary in the context and may be the result of dittography in the .
5 Heb “has so filled his heart”; “who has dared to do this.”
6 There is great irony here in that the man who set out to destroy all the Jews now finds himself begging for his own life from a Jew.
7 Heb “for he saw that calamity was determined for him from the king”; “the king had decided on his doom”; “the king had determined to destroy him.”
8 Heb “falling”; , “had (+ just ) thrown himself (+ down ).”
9 Heb “where Esther was” (so , ). The term “lying” has been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons; cf. , , , “was reclining.”
10 Cf. 1:10, where Harbona is one of the seven eunuchs sent by the king to summon Queen Vashti to his banquet.
11 Heb “fifty cubits.” See the note on this expression in .
1 Heb “house” (so , , ; also in vv. 2, 7). Cf. “all the property.”
2 As in 7:4 Esther avoids implicating the king in this plot. Instead Haman is given sole responsibility for the plan to destroy the Jews.
3 Heb “Esther.” The pronoun (“she”) was used in the translation for stylistic reasons. A repetition of the proper name is redundant here in terms of contemporary English style.
4 The does not include the expression “the Agagite.”
5 Heb “my kindred” (so , , ); “my race”; “my family”; “my people and my family.”
6 Heb “sent forth his hand”; , “attacked”; “tried to destroy.” Cf. 9:2.
7 Heb “in that time”; “At once.”
8 Cf. 3:12. Two months and ten days have passed since Haman’s edict to wipe out the Jews.
9 Heb “it was written”; this passive construction has been converted to an active one in the translation for clarity and for stylistic reasons.
10 Heb “Cush” (so ), referring to the region of the upper Nile in Africa. Cf. and most other English versions “Ethiopia.”
11 Heb “He”; the referent (Mordecai) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
12 Heb “children and women.” As in 3:13, the translation follows contemporary English idiom, which reverses the order.
13 Heb “this” (so ); most English versions read “that” here for stylistic reasons.
14 Heb “making haste and hurrying”; , “being hastened and pressed.”
15 Heb “shouted and rejoiced.” The expression is a hendiadys (see the note on for an explanation of this figure).
16 Heb “light and gladness and joy and honor” (so ). The present translation understands the four terms to be a double hendiadys.
17 Heb “peoples of the land” (so ); “people of other nationalities”; “peoples of the country.”
18 Heb “were becoming Jews”; “embraced Judaism.” However, the Hitpael stem of the verb is sometimes used of a feigning action rather than a genuine one (see, e.g., 2 Sam 13:5, 6), which is the way the present translation understands the use of the word here (cf. “professed themselves Jews”; “professed to be Jews”). This is the only occurrence of this verb in the Hebrew Bible, so there are no exact parallels. However, in the context of v. 17 the motivation of their conversion (Heb “the fear of the Jews had fallen upon them”) should not be overlooked. The apparently understood the conversion described here to be genuine, since it adds the words “they were being circumcised and” before “they became Jews.”
19 Heb “had fallen upon them” (so ); “had seized them.”