= Esther 7 * Please see [[nsv:license|License]] for Copyright notice and Licensing information. * [ [[Esther_6|Previous]] | [[Esther_8|Next]] ] == Esther 7 1 So the king and Haman came to banquet with Esther the queen. 2 And the king said again unto Esther on the second day at the banquet of wine, What is thy petition, queen Esther? and it shall be granted thee: and what is thy request? and it shall be performed, even to the half of the kingdom. 3 Then Esther the queen answered and said, If I have found favour in thy sight, O king, and if it please the king, let my life be given me at my petition, and my people at my request: 4 For we are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish. But if we had been sold for bondmen and bondwomen, I had held my tongue, although the enemy could not countervail the king's damage. 5 Then the king Ahasuerus answered and said unto Esther the queen, Who is he, and where is he, that durst presume in his heart to do so? 6 And Esther said, The adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman. Then Haman was afraid before the king and the queen. 7 And the king arising from the banquet of wine in his wrath went into the palace garden: and Haman stood up to make request for his life to Esther the queen; for he saw that there was evil determined against him by the king. 8 Then the king returned out of the palace garden into the place of the banquet of wine; and Haman was fallen upon the bed whereon Esther was. Then said the king, Will he force the queen also before me in the house? As the word went out of king's mouth, they covered Haman's face. 9 And Harbonah, one of the chamberlains, said before the king, Behold also, the gallows fifty cubits high, which Haman had made for Mordecai, who spoken good for the king, standeth in the house of Haman. Then the king said, Hang him thereon. 10 So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then was the king's wrath pacified. == Notes == Cross Reference == Concordance == Commentary == Rashi ==== Verse 3 Let my life be granted me. That I should not be slain on the thirteenth of Adar, for you have issued an edict of massacre upon my people and my heritage. And my people. Shall be given me in my request, that they should not be slain. Now if you ask, “What does it concern you?” [my answer is] “For how can I see, etc.?”1Below 8:6. ==== Verse 4 For the oppressor has no regard for losses incurred by his majesty. He is not concerned about the king’s loss, for if he had sought your benefit, he should have said, “Sell them as slaves and maidservants and take the money,” or “keep them now to be your slaves, they and their descendants.” ==== Verse 5 King Achashveirosh spoke. He said to Queen Esther. Wherever it states, “and he said ... and he said,” twice, it is to be expounded upon. And the Midrashic interpretation of this is: Originally, he would speak to her through an intermediary, but now that he knew that she was of a royal family, he spoke to her personally.2Maseches Megillah 16a. ==== Verse 7 That it would end up. The evil, the hatred, and the vengeance were decided. ==== Verse 8 Haman had fallen. The angel pushed him.3Ibid. The literal translation is “and Haman was falling,” meaning that he tried to rise but the angel kept pushing him onto the couch and into a compromising position, which infuriated the king even more. On the couch upon which Esther reclined. Their custom was to sit at a meal [reclining] on their sides on couches, as it is stated in the beginning of the Book, “couches of gold and silver”4Above 1:6. for those who participated in the feast. Even to overpower the queen. This is an expression of wonder. לִכְבּוֹשׁ [denotes] to subdue with force, as in “and the land is conquered [וְנִכְבְּשָׁה].”5Bamidbar 32:22. ==== Verse 9 Moreover, there is the gallows. He “also” committed another evil, that he prepared the gallows to hang the king’s friend, who saved the king from [being] poison[ed].