Esther 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.

2Sa 13:3-5; 2Sa 16:21-23; 2Sa 17:1-4; 1Ki 21:7,25; 1Ki 21:7; 2Ch 22:3,4; Es 3:8-15; Es 3:15; Es 6:4; Es 7:9; Es 7:10; Ps 7:13-16; Ps 9:15; Ps 37:14,32; Pr 1:18; Pr 4:16; Am 6:4-6; Mr 6:19-24; Mr 14:10,11; Ac 23:14,15; Ro 1:32; Ro 3:15; Re 11:10

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.”