So the king and Haman came to drink wine with Esther the queen. 2 And the king said to Esther on the second day also as they drank their wine, “^aWhat is your petition, Queen Esther? It shall be granted to you. And what is your request? ^bEven to half of the kingdom, it shall be done.” 3 Then Queen Esther replied, “^aIf I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it pleases the king, let my life be spared as my petition, and my people be spared as my request; 4 for ^awe have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, ^bkilled and wiped out of existence. Now if we had only been sold as slaves, men and women, I would have remained silent, for our hardship would not be sufficient to burden the king by even mentioning it.” 5 Then King Ahasuerus (Xerxes) asked Queen Esther, “Who is he, and where is he, who dares to do such a thing?” 6 Esther said, “^aAn adversary and an enemy is Haman, this evil man.” Then Haman became terrified before the king and queen.

7 Then ^ain his fury, the king stood up from drinking wine and went into ^bthe palace garden to decide what he should do; but Haman stayed to plead for his life from Queen Esther, for he saw that harm had been determined against him by the king. 8 When the king returned from the palace garden to the place where they were drinking wine, Haman was falling on ^athe couch where Esther was. Then the king said, “Will he even attempt to assault the queen with me in the palace?” As the king spoke those words, the servants covered Haman’s face in preparation for execution. 9 Then Harbonah, one of the eunuchs serving the king said, “Now look, ^athere are gallows fifty cubits (75 ft.) high standing at Haman’s house, which Haman made for Mordecai, ^bwhose good warning saved the king.” And the king said, “Hang him on it.” 10 ^aSo they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. ^bThen the king’s anger subsided.