Esther 5:14

5:14 Haman’s 1  wife Zeresh and all his friends said to him, “Have a gallows seventy-five feet 2  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.” 3 

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

Esther 9:25

9:25 But when the matter came to the king’s attention, the king 4  gave written orders that Haman’s 5  evil intentions that he had devised against the Jews should fall on his own head. He and his sons were hanged on the gallows.

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

2 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.”

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

4 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

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