Esther 7

1 So the king and Haman went in to drink with the queen. 2 And on the second day, at the drinking feast, the king said to Esther, “What is it, Queen Esther? What is your request, and what is your petition? It shall be yours, up to half of my kingdom.”

3 And she answered, “If I have found favor in the king’s eyes, let my life be granted me as my request, and my people as my petition. † 4 For we have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, plundered, and enslaved — we and our children for slaves, male and female — and I refused to listen; for the slanderer is not worthy of the king’s court.” [a]

5 Then the king said, “Who is he — the man who has dared to do such a thing?” 6 And Esther said, “An enemy — Haman, this wicked man!” And Haman was shaken before the king and the queen.

7 The king rose from the wine and went out into the garden, and Haman began to plead with the queen, for he saw that he was in serious trouble. 8 When the king came back in from the garden, Haman had fallen across the couch, still pleading with the queen. And the king said, “What — will you even force my wife, in my own house?” When Haman heard it, his face changed. [c]

9 Then Bugathan, one of the eunuchs, said to the king, “Look — Haman has even prepared a pole for Mordecai, the man who spoke up for the king; a pole seventy-five feet high, standing on Haman’s own grounds.” And the king said, “Hang him on it.” [d] 10 So Haman was hanged on the pole he had prepared for Mordecai. And then the king’s rage died down.