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.
6:4 Then the king said, “Who is that in the courtyard?” Now Haman had come to the outer courtyard of the palace to suggest that the king hang Mordecai on the gallows that he had constructed for him.
8:7 King Ahasuerus replied to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, “Look, I have already given Haman’s estate to Esther, and he has been hanged on the gallows because he took hostile action 6 against the Jews.
9:13 Esther replied, “If the king is so inclined, let the Jews who are in Susa be permitted to act tomorrow also according to today’s law, and let them hang the ten sons of Haman on the gallows.”
The king said, “Hang him on it!”
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 “they both were hanged.” The referent (the two eunuchs who conspired against the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
5 tn Or “on a pole”; KJV, ASV “on a tree.”
6 tn Heb “sent forth his hand”; NAB, NIV “attacked”; NLT “tried to destroy.” Cf. 9:2.
7 sn Cf. 1:10, where Harbona is one of the seven eunuchs sent by the king to summon Queen Vashti to his banquet.
8 tn Heb “fifty cubits.” See the note on this expression in Esth 5:14.
9 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
10 tn Heb “his”; the referent (Haman) has been specified in the translation for clarity.