Esther 7 - 8 - Legacy Standard Bible

Esther 7 - 8

Esther’s Petition to the King

Then the king and Haman came to drink wine with Esther the queen. 2 And the king said to Esther on the second day also as they drank their wine at the feast, “What is your petition, Queen Esther? It shall be given you. And what is your request? Even to half of the kingdom it shall be done.” 3 Then Queen Esther answered and said, “If I have found favor in your eyes, O king, and if it seems good to the king, let my life be given to me as my petition, and my people as my request; 4 for we have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be killed, and to be caused to perish. Now if we had only been sold as slaves, men and women, I would have remained silent, for the adversity would not be worth the annoyance to the king.” 5 Then King Ahasuerus said—he said to Esther the Queen, “Who is this one, and where is this one, who fills his heart to do thus?” 6 So Esther said, “An adversary and an enemy is this evil Haman!” Then Haman became terrified before the king and queen.

Haman Is Hanged

7 And the king arose in his wrath from drinking wine and went into the garden of his palace; but Haman stayed to seek for his life from Queen Esther, for he saw that calamity had been determined against him by the king. 8 Now the king returned from the garden of his palace into the place where they were drinking wine. And Haman was falling on the couch where Esther was. So 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 were before the king, said, “Behold indeed, the gallows—which Haman made for Mordecai who spoke good on behalf of the king—are standing at Haman’s house fifty cubits high!” And the king said, “Hang him on it.” 10 So they hanged Haman on the gallows which he had set up for Mordecai, and the king’s wrath subsided.

Esther Saves the Jews

On that day King Ahasuerus gave the house of Haman, the adversary of the Jews, to Queen Esther; and Mordecai came before the king, for Esther had told what he was to her. 2 And the king removed his signet ring, which he had taken away from Haman, and gave it to Mordecai. And Esther set Mordecai over the house of Haman. 3 Then Esther spoke again to the king, fell at his feet, wept, and implored him to repeal the evil scheme of Haman the Agagite and his scheme which he had devised against the Jews. 4 And the king extended the golden scepter to Esther. So Esther arose and stood before the king. 5 Then she said, “If it seems good to the king, and if I have found favor before him and the matter seems proper to the king and I am good in his eyes, let it be written to turn back the letters devised by Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, which he wrote to cause the Jews who are in all the king’s provinces to perish. 6 For how can I endure to see the calamity which will befall my people, and how can I endure to see the perishing of my kinsmen?”

The King’s Decree Avenges the Jews

7 So King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, “Behold, I have given the house of Haman to Esther, and him they have hanged on the gallows because he had sent forth his hand against the Jews. 8 Now you write to the Jews, according to what is good in your eyes, in the king’s name, and seal it with the king’s signet ring; for a written decree which is written in the name of the king and sealed with the king’s signet ring may not be turned back.” 9 So the king’s scribes were called at that time in the third month (that is, the month Sivan), on the twenty-third day; and it was written according to all that Mordecai commanded to the Jews, the satraps, the governors, and the princes of the provinces which extended from India to Ethiopia, 127 provinces, to every province according to its script, and to every people according to their tongue as well as to the Jews according to their script and their tongue. 10 And he wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed it with the king’s signet ring and sent letters by the hand of couriers on horses, riding on steeds sired by the royal stud. 11 In them the king gave the Jews who were in each and every city the right to assemble and to make a stand for their lives, to destroy, to kill, and to cause to perish the entire military force of any people or province which would act as their adversaries, including little ones and women, and to plunder their spoil, 12 on one day in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month (that is, the month Adar). 13 A copy of that which was written down to be given as law in each and every province was revealed to all the peoples, so that the Jews would be ready for this day to avenge themselves on their enemies. 14 The couriers, hurried and hastened by the king’s word, went out, riding on the royal steeds; and the law was given out at the citadel in Susa. 15 Then Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal robes of blue and fine white, with a large crown of gold and a garment of fine linen and purple; and the city of Susa cried aloud and was glad. 16 For the Jews there was light and gladness and joy and honor. 17 And in each and every province and in each and every city, wherever the king’s word and his law reached, there was gladness and joy for the Jews, a feast and a holiday. And many among the peoples of the land became Jews, for the dread of the Jews had fallen on them.