Esther 7

NEW JERUSALEM	NEW AMERICAN BIBLE
1 The king and Haman went to Queen Esther's banquet,	1 So the king and Haman went to the banquet with Queen Esther.
2 and this second day, during the banquet, the king again said to Esther, 'Tel me your request, QueenEsther. I grant it to you. Whatever you want; even if it is half my kingdom, it is yours for the asking.'	2 Again, on this second day, during the drinking of the wine, the king said to Esther, "Whatever you ask, Queen Esther, shall be granted you. Whatever request you make shall be honored, even for half the kingdom."
3 'If I have found favour in your eyes, O king,' Queen Esther replied, 'and if it please your majesty, grantme my life -- that is my request; and the lives of my people -- that is what I want.	3 Queen Esther replied: "If I have found favor with you, O king, and if it pleases your majesty, I ask that my life be spared, and I beg that you spare the lives of my people.
4 For we have been handed over, my people and I, to destruction, slaughter and annihilation; had wemerely been sold as slaves and servant-girls, I should not have said anything; but in the present case, it wil bebeyond the persecutor's means to make good the loss that the king is about to sustain.'	4 For my people and I have been delivered to destruction, slaughter, and extinction. If we were to be sold into slavery I would remain silent, but as it is, the enemy will be unable to compensate for the harm done to the king."
5 King Ahasuerus interrupted Queen Esther, 'Who is this man?' he exclaimed. 'Where is the man who hasthought of doing such a thing?'	5 "Who and where," said King Ahasuerus to Queen Esther, "is the man who has dared to do this?"
6 Esther replied, 'The persecutor, the enemy? Why, this wretch Haman!' Haman quaked with terror in thepresence of the king and queen.	6 Esther replied, "The enemy oppressing us is this wicked Haman." At this, Haman was seized with dread of the king and queen.
7 In a rage the king got up from the banquet and went into the palace garden; while Haman, realising thatthe king was determined on his ruin, stayed behind to beg Queen Esther for his life.	7 The king left the banquet in anger and went into the garden of the palace, but Haman stayed to beg Queen Esther for his life, since he saw that the king had decided on his doom.
8 When the king came back from the palace garden into the banqueting hal , he found Haman sprawledacross the couch where Esther was reclining. 'What!' the king exclaimed. 'Is he going to rape the queen in myown palace?' The words were scarcely out of his mouth than a veil was thrown over Haman's face.	8 When the king returned from the garden of the palace to the banquet hall, Haman had thrown himself on the couch on which Esther was reclining; and the king exclaimed, "Will he also violate the queen while she is with me in my own house!" Scarcely had the king spoken when the face of Haman was covered over.
9 In the royal presence, Harbona, one of the officers, said, 'There is that fifty-cubit gal ows, too, whichHaman ran up for Mordecai, who spoke up to the king's great advantage. It is al ready at his house.' 'Hang himon it,' said the king.	9 Harbona, one of the eunuchs who attended the king, said, "At the house of Haman stands a gibbet fifty cubits high. Haman prepared it for Mordecai, who gave the report that benefited the king." The king answered, "Hang him on it."
10 So Haman was hanged on the gal ows which he had erected for Mordecai, and the king's wrathsubsided.	10 So they hanged Haman on the gibbet which he had made ready for Mordecai, and the anger of the king abated.