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.
哈曼被處死
1王帶著哈曼去赴以斯帖王后的宴席。 2在這第二次宴會中，王在席間又問以斯帖：「以斯帖王后啊，你要什麼？我必賜給你。你有何要求？就是半壁江山，也必為你成就。」 3以斯帖回答說：「我若得到王的恩寵，王若願意，就請王把我的性命和我本族人的性命賜給我——這是我所求的。 4因為我和我本族的人都被賣了，我們將被剷除、殺光、滅盡。如果只是賣我們為奴為婢，我會閉口不語，因為那樣的痛苦不值得來打擾王7·4 「因為那樣的痛苦不值得來打擾王」或譯「但王的損失，敵人無法補償」。。」 5亞哈隨魯王問以斯帖王后：「誰敢這樣做？他在哪裡？」 6以斯帖回答說：「敵人和仇家就是這惡人哈曼！」哈曼在王和王后面前十分驚恐。
7王大怒，離席去了御花園。哈曼見王定意要懲罰他，便留下來求以斯帖王后饒命。 8王從御花園回到席上，見哈曼伏在以斯帖所靠的榻上，便說：「他竟敢在宮中當著我的面侮辱王后嗎？」王這話一出口，便有人蒙了哈曼的臉。 9服侍王的太監哈波拿說：「哈曼為那救駕有功的末底改做了一個二十三米高的木架，如今正立在哈曼家裡。」王說：「把哈曼吊在上面！」 10於是，哈曼被吊在他為末底改預備的木架上，王的怒氣這才平息。
