Esther Pleads for Her People 1 UST So the king and Haman went to the{ second} banquet that Queen Esther{ had arranged for them}. BSB BSB: So the king and Haman went to dine with Esther the queen,
2 UST At that second banquet, while they were drinking wine, the king asked Esther again,“Now please tell me what you really want, Queen Esther.{ Tell me,} and I will do it for you.{ I will give you} anything you ask for, no matter how great it is.” BSB BSB: and as they drank their wine on that second day, the king asked once more, “Queen Esther, what is your petition? It will be given to you. What is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be fulfilled.”
3 UST Then Queen Esther replied,“If you are pleased with me, O king, I hope you will be willing to do what I ask. Please allow me to live, and please save my people. That is what I am asking for. BSB BSB: Queen Esther replied, “If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it pleases the king, grant me my life as my petition, and the lives of my people as my request.
4 UST { I am appealing to you} because someone has turned my people and me over{ to our enemies}, and they are going to destroy us completely. If someone had sold the men and{ even} the women to be slaves, I would not have said anything about that to you, because that would not have been important enough to bother you, the king, with that.” BSB BSB: For my people and I have been sold out to destruction, death, and annihilation. If we had merely been sold as menservants and maidservants, I would have remained silent, because no such distress would justify burdening the king.”
5 UST Then King Ahasuerus responded to Queen Esther,“Who has done this? Where is the man who has dared to do such a thing?” BSB BSB: Then King Xerxes spoke up and asked Queen Esther, “Who is this, and where is the one who would devise such a scheme?”
6 UST Esther responded,“The man who is our bitter enemy is this evil man Haman!” This made Haman terrified to be in the presence of the king and the queen. BSB BSB: Esther replied, “The adversary and enemy is this wicked man—Haman!” And Haman stood in terror before the king and queen.
The Hanging of Haman 7 UST The king became so angry that he got up and left the banquet of wine. He went{ outside} into the palace garden{ to decide what to do}. But Haman stayed{ inside} to beg Queen Esther to save his life because he recognized that the king wanted to execute him. BSB BSB: In his fury, the king arose from drinking his wine and went to the palace garden, while Haman stayed behind to beg Queen Esther for his life, for he realized that the king was planning a terrible fate for him.
8 UST { As he was pleading for his life,} Haman knelt down very close to Esther as she was{ reclining} on a{ banqueting} couch. When the king returned from the palace garden to the room where they had been drinking wine,{ he saw this}. The king exclaimed,“He is even trying to rape the queen in my presence and in my own house!” As soon as the king said this,{ some of his servants} covered Haman’ s face{ as a sign that he would be executed}. BSB BSB: Just as the king returned from the palace garden to the banquet hall, Haman was falling on the couch where Esther was reclining. The king exclaimed, “Would he actually assault the queen while I am in the palace?” As soon as the words had left the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face.
9 UST Then Harbona, who was one of the guardians who served the king personally, said,“O king! Haman has also set up a pole twenty- five meters high at his house because he wants to hang Mordecai on it. But Mordecai saved your life.” The king said,“Hang Haman on it!” BSB BSB: Then Harbonah, one of the eunuchs attending the king, said: “There is a gallows fifty cubits high at Haman’s house. He had it built for Mordecai, who gave the report that saved the king.” “Hang him on it!” declared the king.
10 UST So they hung Haman on the pole that he had set up for Mordecai. Then the king stopped being so angry. BSB BSB: So they hanged Haman on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the fury of the king subsided.
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