CHAPTER 7
1 Therefore the king and Haman entered to the feast, and to drink with the queen.
2 And the king said also to Esther in the second day, after that he was hot of the wine, Esther, what is thine asking of me, that it be given to thee, and what wilt thou be done? Yea, though thou ask the half part of my realm, thou shalt have it.
3 To whom she answered, O! king, if I have found grace in thine eyes, and if it pleaseth thee, give thou my life to me, for which I pray thee now, and also the life of my people, for the which I beseech thee.
4 For I and my people be given, that we be defouled, and strangled, and that we perish; O! why not had we rather been sold into servants and servantesses, for that evil might have been suffered, and I, wailing, should have been still; but now our enemy is present, whose cruelty turneth against the king.
5 And king Ahasuerus answered, and said, Who is this, and of what power, that he be hardy to do such things?
6 And Esther said, Our worst adversary and enemy is this Haman. The which thing when he heard, he was astonied anon, and he was not sufficient to bear the semblance, or the indignation, of the king and of the queen.
7 And the king rose up wroth, and from the place of the feast he entered into a garden beset about with trees. And Haman rose up for to pray Esther, the queen, for his life; for he understood evil made ready of the king to him.
8 And when the king turned again from the garden, and had entered into the place of the feast, he found that Haman had fallen down upon the bed, wherein Esther lay. And the king said, Also he will oppress the queen, while I am present, in mine house. And the word was not yet gone out of the king’s mouth, and anon men covered the face of Haman.
9 And Harbona, one of the honest servants and chaste, that stood in the service of the king, said, Lo! a tree having fifty cubits of height standeth in the house of Haman, which he had made ready to Mordecai, that spake for the king, and made known his traitors. To whom the king said, Hang ye Haman in that tree.
10 Therefore Haman was hanged in the gibbet, which he had made ready to Mordecai, and the ire of the king rested.