7:5 Then King Ahasuerus responded 1 to Queen Esther, “Who is this individual? Where is this person to be found who is presumptuous enough 2 to act in this way?”
7:6 Esther replied, “The oppressor and enemy is this evil Haman!”
Then Haman became terrified in the presence of the king and queen. 7:7 In rage the king arose from the banquet of wine and withdrew to the palace garden. Meanwhile, Haman stood to beg Queen Esther for his life, 3 for he realized that the king had now determined a catastrophic end for him. 4
7:8 When the king returned from the palace garden to the banquet of wine, Haman was throwing himself down 5 on the couch where Esther was lying. 6 The king exclaimed, “Will he also attempt to rape the queen while I am still in the building!”
As these words left the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face.
1 tc The second occurrence of the Hebrew verb וַיּאמֶר (vayyo’mer, “and he said”) in the MT should probably be disregarded. The repetition is unnecessary in the context and may be the result of dittography in the MT.
2 tn Heb “has so filled his heart”; NAB “who has dared to do this.”
3 sn There is great irony here in that the man who set out to destroy all the Jews now finds himself begging for his own life from a Jew.
4 tn Heb “for he saw that calamity was determined for him from the king”; NAB “the king had decided on his doom”; NRSV “the king had determined to destroy him.”
5 tn Heb “falling”; NAB, NRSV “had (+ just TEV) thrown himself (+ down TEV).”
6 tn Heb “where Esther was” (so KJV, NASB). The term “lying” has been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons; cf. NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT “was reclining.”