Hamans endeligt
1Om aftenen sad kongen og Haman endnu en gang til fest hos dronning Ester. 2Mens de drak af vinen, spurgte kongen igen: „Hvad har du på hjerte, dronning Ester? Fortæl mig nu, hvad du ønsker. Jeg giver dig det, om det så er det halve kongerige!”
3Da svarede dronning Ester: „Hvis jeg har fundet nåde for Deres øjne, herre konge, beder jeg om, at De vil skåne mit eget og mine landsmænds liv. 4Det er blevet besluttet, at jeg og mit folk skal udryddes fuldstændigt. Hvis vi var blevet solgt som slaver, ville jeg ikke have ulejliget kongen af den grund, men total udryddelse er en anden sag.”
5„Hvad mener du?” spurgte kong Xerxes. „Hvem er det, der har besluttet at udrydde jer?”
6„Det er en fjende af jøderne, den onde Haman der!” svarede Ester.
Haman blev ligbleg og rystede af skræk. 7Kongen sprang op i vrede og gik ud i parken, mens Haman blev tilbage for at bønfalde dronning Ester om nåde, for han vidste, hvad kongens vrede betød. 8I sin fortvivlelse knælede Haman ned over divanen, som Ester lå på, netop som kongen vendte tilbage fra haven.
„Hvad i alverden!” råbte kongen. „Overfalder han dronningen for øjnene af mig i mit eget palads?” Straks sprang tjenerne til, overmandede Haman og tildækkede hans ansigt.
9Den tjener, der hed Harbona, sagde til kongen: „Herre, Haman har netop opstillet en høj galge, som var tænkt til Mordokaj, kongens redningsmand. Den står parat i Hamans gård.”
„Så hæng ham selv i den!” beordrede kongen. 10Så hængte de Haman i den galge, han havde tænkt til Mordokaj, og kongens vrede lagde sig.
Haman Is Put to Death
1So the king and Haman went to Queen Esther’s feast. 2They were drinking wine on the second day. The king again asked, “What do you want, Queen Esther? I’ll give it to you. What do you want me to do for you? I’ll even give you up to half of my kingdom.”
3Then Queen Esther answered, “Your Majesty, I hope you will be pleased to let me live. That’s what I want. Please spare my people. That’s my appeal to you. 4My people and I have been sold to be destroyed. We’ve been sold to be killed and wiped out. Suppose we had only been sold as male and female slaves. Then I wouldn’t have said anything. That kind of suffering wouldn’t be a good enough reason to bother you.”
5King Xerxes asked Queen Esther, “Who is the man who has dared to do such a thing? And where is he?”
6Esther said, “The man hates us! He’s our enemy! He’s this evil Haman!”
Then Haman was terrified in front of the king and queen. 7The king got up. He was very angry. He left his wine and went out into the palace garden. But Haman realized that the king had already decided what he was going to do to him. So he stayed behind to beg Queen Esther for his life.
8The king returned from the palace garden to the dinner hall. Just then he saw Haman falling on the couch where Esther was lying.
The king shouted, “Will he even treat the queen like this? Will he harm her while she’s right here with me in the palace?”
As soon as the king finished speaking, his men covered Haman’s face. 9Then Harbona said, “There’s a pole standing near Haman’s house. He has prepared it for Mordecai. Mordecai is the one who spoke up to help you. Haman had planned to have him put to death. He was going to have the pole stuck through his body. Then he was going to set it up at a place where it would be 75 feet above the ground.” Harbona was one of the officials who attended the king.
The king said to his men, “Put Haman to death! Stick the pole through his body! Set it up where everyone can see it!” 10So they did. And they used the pole Haman had prepared for Mordecai. Then the king’s anger calmed down.
