Esther 1:5

1:5 When those days ¹  were completed, the king then provided a seven-day ²  banquet for all the people who were present ³  in Susa the citadel, for those of highest standing to the most lowly. ⁴  It was held in the court located in the garden of the royal palace.

Esther 5:8

5:8 If I have found favor in the king’s sight and if the king is inclined ⁵  to grant my request and perform my petition, let the king and Haman come tomorrow to the banquet that I will prepare for them. At that time ⁶  I will do as the king wishes. ⁷ 

Esther 5:14

5:14 Haman’s ⁸  wife Zeresh and all his friends said to him, “Have a gallows seventy-five feet ⁹  high built, and in the morning tell the king that Mordecai should be hanged on it. Then go with the king to the banquet contented.” ¹⁰ 

It seemed like a good idea to Haman, so he had the gallows built.

Esther 7:2

7:2 On the second day of the banquet of wine the king asked Esther, “What is your request, Queen Esther? It shall be granted to you. And what is your petition? Ask up to half the kingdom, and it shall be done!”

Esther 7:8

7:8 When the king returned from the palace garden to the banquet of wine, Haman was throwing himself down ¹¹  on the couch where Esther was lying. ¹²  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.

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¹ tc The Hebrew text of Esther does not indicate why this elaborate show of wealth and power was undertaken. According to the LXX these were “the days of the wedding” (αἱ ἡμέραι τοῦ γάμου, Jai Jhmerai tou gamou), presumably the king’s wedding. However, a number of scholars have called attention to the fact that this celebration takes place just shortly before Xerxes’ invasion of Greece. It is possible that the banquet was a rallying for the up-coming military effort. See Herodotus, Histories 7.8. There is no reason to adopt the longer reading of the LXX here.

² tc The LXX has ἕξ ({ex, “six”) instead of “seven.” Virtually all English versions follow the reading of the MT here, “seven.”

³ tn Heb “were found.”

⁴ tn Heb “from the great and unto the small.”

⁵ tn Heb “if upon the king it is good.” Cf. the similar expression in v. 4, which also occurs in 7:3; 8:5; 9:13.

⁶ tn Heb “and tomorrow” (so NASB); NAB, NRSV “and then.”

⁷ tn Heb “I will do according to the word of the king,” i.e., answer the question that he has posed. Cf. NCV “Then I will answer your question about what I want.”

⁸ tn Heb “his”; the referent (Haman) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁹ tn Heb “fifty cubits.” Assuming a standard length for the cubit of about 18 inches (45 cm), this would be about seventy-five feet (22.5 meters), which is a surprisingly tall height for the gallows. Perhaps the number assumes the gallows was built on a large supporting platform or a natural hill for visual effect, in which case the structure itself may have been considerably smaller. Cf. NCV “a seventy-five foot platform”; CEV “a tower built about seventy-five feet high.”

¹⁰ tn Or “joyful”; NRSV “in good spirits”; TEV “happy.”

¹¹ tn Heb “falling”; NAB, NRSV “had (+ just TEV) thrown himself (+ down TEV).”

¹² 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.”