Esther 11

VULGATA	CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN
1 Anno quarto regnantibus Ptolemæo et Cleopatra, attulerunt Dosithæus, qui se sacerdotem et Levitici generis ferebat, et Ptolemæus filius ejus, hanc epistolam phurim, quam dixerunt interpretatum esse Lysimachum Ptolemæi filium in Jerusalem.	1 And so the king and Haman entered to drink with the queen.
2 Anno secundo, regnante Artaxerxe maximo, prima die mensis Nisan, vidit somnium Mardochæus filius Jairi, filii Semei, filii Cis, de tribu Benjamin :	2 And the king said to her again on the second day, after he was warmed with wine, “What is your request, Esther, so that it may be given to you? And what do you want done? Even if you ask for half of my kingdom, you will obtain it.”
3 homo Judæus, qui habitabat in urbe Susis, vir magnus, et inter primos aulæ regiæ.	3 She answered him, “If I have found favor in your eyes, O king, and if it pleases you, spare my soul, I ask you, and spare my people, I beg you.
4 Erat autem de eo numero captivorum, quos transtulerat Nabuchodonosor rex Babylonis de Jerusalem cum Jechonia rege Juda.	4 For I and my people have been handed over to be crushed, to be slain, and to perish. And if we were only being sold as servants and slaves, the evil might be tolerable, and I would have mourned in silence. But now our enemy is one whose cruelty overflows upon the king.”
5 Et hoc ejus somnium fuit : apparuerunt voces, et tumultus, et tonitrua, et terræmotus, et conturbatio super terram :	5 And king Artaxerxes answered and said, “Who is this, and of what power, that he would dare to do these things?”
6 et ecce duo dracones magni, paratique contra se in prælium.	6 And Esther said, “This is our most wicked enemy and foe: Haman!” Hearing this, Haman was suddenly dumbfounded, unable to bear the faces of the king and the queen.
7 Ad quorum clamorem cunctæ concitatæ sunt nationes, ut pugnarent contra gentem justorum.	7 But the king, being angry, rose up and, from the place of the feast, entered into the arboretum of the garden. Haman likewise rose up to entreat Esther the queen for his soul, for he understood that evil was prepared for him by the king.
8 Fuitque dies illa tenebrarum et discriminis, tribulationis et angustiæ, et ingens formido super terram.	8 When the king returned from the arboretum of the garden and entered into the place of the feast, he found Haman collapsed on the couch on which Esther lay, and he said, “And now he wishes to oppress the queen, in my presence, in my house!” The word had not yet gone out of the king’s mouth, and immediately they covered his face.
9 Conturbataque est gens justorum timentium mala sua, et præparata ad mortem.	9 And Harbona, one of the eunuchs who stood in ministry to the king, said, “Behold the wood, which he had prepared for Mordecai, who spoke up on behalf of the king, stands in Haman’s house, having a height of fifty cubits.” The king said to him, “Hang him from it.”
10 Clamaveruntque ad Deum : et illis vociferantibus, fons parvus creavit in fluvium maximum, et in aquas plurimas redundavit.	10 And so Haman was hanged on the gallows, which he had prepared for Mordecai, and the king’s anger was quieted.
11 Lux et sol ortus est, et humiles exaltati sunt, et devoraverunt inclytos.
12 Quod cum vidisset Mardochæus, et surrexisset de strato, cogitabat quid Deus facere vellet : et fixum habebat in animo, scire cupiens quid significaret somnium.