Text -- Esther 5:7-14 (NET)

5:7 Esther responded, “My request and my petition is this: 5:8 If I have found favor in the king’s sight and if the king is inclined 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 I will do as the king wishes.

Haman Expresses His Hatred of Mordecai

5:9 Now Haman went forth that day pleased and very much encouraged. But when Haman saw Mordecai at the king’s gate, and he did not rise nor tremble in his presence, Haman was filled with rage toward Mordecai. 5:10 But Haman restrained himself and went on to his home. He then sent for his friends to join him, along with his wife Zeresh. 5:11 Haman then recounted to them his fabulous wealth, his many sons, and how the king had magnified him and exalted him over the king’s other officials and servants. 5:12 Haman said, “Furthermore, Queen Esther invited only me to accompany the king to the banquet that she prepared! And also tomorrow I am invited along with the king. 5:13 Yet all of this fails to satisfy me so long as I have to see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king’s gate.” 5:14 Haman’s wife Zeresh and all his friends said to him, “Have a gallows seventy-five feet 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.” It seemed like a good idea to Haman, so he had the gallows built.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Est 5:7

¹ tn Heb “answered and said.” This is somewhat redundant in contemporary English and has been simplified in the translation.

NET Notes: Est 5:8

¹ 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.

² tn Heb “and tomorrow” (so NASB); NAB, NRSV “and then.”

³ 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.”

NET Notes: Est 5:9

¹ tn Heb “happy and good of heart”; NASB “glad and pleased of heart”; NIV “happy and in high spirits.”

² tn Heb “tremble from before him”; NIV “nor showed fear in his presence”; TEV “or show any sign of respect as he passed.”

NET Notes: Est 5:10

¹ tn Heb “sent and brought.” The expression is probably a hendiadys (a figure of speech in which a single idea is expressed through two words or phrases), in which case the two verbs could be translated simply as “summoned” (so NAB) or “sent for” (NASB).

NET Notes: Est 5:11

¹ tn Heb “the glory of his riches” (so KJV, NASB); NRSV “the splendor of his riches.”

² sn According to Esth 9:10 Haman had ten sons.

NET Notes: Est 5:12

¹ tn Heb “caused to come”; KJV “did let no man come in…but myself.”

² tn Heb “called to her”; KJV “invited unto her”; NAB “I am to be her guest.”

NET Notes: Est 5:14

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.”