HelpFinder Bible - Flipbook - Page 818
ES T H ER 7
The King Executes Haman
So the king and Haman went to Queen Esther’s banquet. 2 On this second occasion,
while they were drinking wine, the king again
said to Esther, “Tell me what you want, Queen
Esther. What is your request? I will give it to you,
even if it is half the kingdom!”
3 Queen Esther replied, “If I have found favor
with the king, and if it pleases the king to grant
my request, I ask that my life and the lives of
my people will be spared. 4 For my people and I
have been sold to those who would kill, slaughter, and annihilate us. If we had merely been
sold as slaves, I could remain quiet, for that
would be too trivial a matter to warrant disturbing the king.”
5 “Who would do such a thing?” King Xerxes
demanded. “Who would be so presumptuous as
to touch you?”
6 Esther replied, “This wicked Haman is our
adversary and our enemy.” Haman grew pale
with fright before the king and queen. 7 Then
the king jumped to his feet in a rage and went
out into the palace garden.
Haman, however, stayed behind to plead for
his life with Queen Esther, for he knew that the
king intended to kill him. 8 In despair he fell on
the couch where Queen Esther was reclining,
just as the king was returning from the palace
garden.
The king exclaimed, “Will he even assault
the queen right here in the palace, before my
very eyes?” And as soon as the king spoke, his
attendants covered Haman’s face, signaling his
doom.
9 Then Harbona, one of the king’s eunuchs,
said, “Haman has set up a sharpened pole that
stands seventy-five feet* tall in his own courtyard. He intended to use it to impale Mordecai,
the man who saved the king from assassination.”
“Then impale Haman on it!” the king ordered. 10 So they impaled Haman on the pole he
had set up for Mordecai, and the king’s anger
subsided.
7
A Decree to Help the Jews
On that same day King Xerxes gave the
property of Haman, the enemy of the Jews,
to Queen Esther. Then Mordecai was brought
before the king, for Esther had told the king how
they were related. 2 The king took off his signet
ring—which he had taken back from Haman—
and gave it to Mordecai. And Esther appointed
Mordecai to be in charge of Haman’s property.
3 Then Esther went again before the king,
falling down at his feet and begging him with
tears to stop the evil plot devised by Haman the
Agagite against the Jews. 4 Again the king held
out the gold scepter to Esther. So she rose and
stood before him.
8
page 448
5 Esther said, “If it please the king, and if I
have found favor with him, and if he thinks it
is right, and if I am pleasing to him, let there
be a decree that reverses the orders of Haman
son of Hammedatha the Agagite, who ordered
that Jews throughout all the king’s provinces
should be destroyed. 6 For how can I endure to
see my people and my family slaughtered and
destroyed?”
7 Then King Xerxes said to Queen Esther and
Mordecai the Jew, “I have given Esther the property of Haman, and he has been impaled on a
pole because he tried to destroy the Jews. 8 Now
go ahead and send a message to the Jews in the
king’s name, telling them whatever you want,
and seal it with the king’s signet ring. But remember that whatever has already been written
in the king’s name and sealed with his signet
ring can never be revoked.”
9 So on June 25* the king’s secretaries were
summoned, and a decree was written exactly as
Mordecai dictated. It was sent to the Jews and
to the highest officers, the governors, and the
nobles of all the 127 provinces stretching from
India to Ethiopia.* The decree was written in
the scripts and languages of all the peoples of
the empire, including that of the Jews. 10 The decree was written in the name of King Xerxes and
sealed with the king’s signet ring. Mordecai sent
the dispatches by swift messengers, who rode
fast horses especially bred for the king’s service.
11 The king’s decree gave the Jews in every
city authority to unite to defend their lives.
They were allowed to kill, slaughter, and annihilate anyone of any nationality or province
who might attack them or their children and
wives, and to take the property of their enemies.
12 The day chosen for this event throughout all
the provinces of King Xerxes was March 7 of the
next year.*
13 A copy of this decree was to be issued as
law in every province and proclaimed to all
peoples, so that the Jews would be ready to
take revenge on their enemies on the appointed
day. 14 So urged on by the king’s command, the
messengers rode out swiftly on fast horses bred
for the king’s service. The same decree was also
proclaimed in the fortress of Susa.
15 Then Mordecai left the king’s presence,
wearing the royal robe of blue and white, the
great crown of gold, and an outer cloak of fine
linen and purple. And the people of Susa celebrated the new decree. 16 The Jews were filled
with joy and gladness and were honored everywhere. 17 In every province and city, wherever
7:9 Hebrew 50 cubits [23 meters]. 8:9a Hebrew on the twentythird day of the third month, the month of Sivan, of the ancient
Hebrew lunar calendar. This day was June 25, 474 b.c.; also
see note on 2:16. 8:9b Hebrew to Cush. 8:12 Hebrew the
thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar, of the
ancient Hebrew lunar calendar. The date selected was March 7,
473 b.c.; also see note on 2:16.