Now the king and Haman came to drink wine with Esther the queen. 2 And the king said to Esther on the second day also ¹as they drank their wine at the banquet, “^aWhat is your request, Queen Esther? It shall be granted you. And what is your wish? ^bUp 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 given me as my request, and my people as my wish; 4 for ^awe have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, ^bkilled, and eliminated. Now if we had only been sold as slaves, men and women, I would have kept silent, because the distress would not be sufficient reason to burden the king.” 5 Then King Ahasuerus ¹asked Queen Esther, “Who is he, and where is he, ²who would presume to do such a thing?” 6 And Esther said, “^aA foe and an enemy is this wicked Haman!” Then Haman became terrified before the king and queen.

7 The king then got up ^ain his anger from ¹drinking wine and went into ^bthe palace garden; but Haman stayed to beg for his life from Queen Esther, for he saw that harm had been determined against him by the king. 8 Now when the king returned from the palace garden into the ¹place where they had been drinking wine, Haman was falling on ^athe couch where Esther was. Then the king said, “Will he even assault the queen with me in the house?” As the word went out of the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face. 9 Then Harbonah, one of the eunuchs who stood before the king, said, “Indeed, behold, ^athe wooden gallows standing at Haman’s house ¹fifty cubits high, which Haman made for Mordecai ^bwho spoke good in behalf of the king!” And the king said, “Hang him on it.” 10 ^aSo they hanged Haman on the wooden gallows which he had prepared for Mordecai, ^band the king’s anger subsided.