Esther 1:10

Queen Vashti is Removed from Her Royal Position

1:10 On the seventh day, as King Ahasuerus was feeling the effects of the wine, ¹  he ordered Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar, and Carcas, the seven eunuchs who attended him, ² 

Esther 1:17

1:17 For the matter concerning the queen will spread to all the women, leading them to treat their husbands with contempt, saying, ‘When King Ahasuerus gave orders to bring Queen Vashti into his presence, she would not come.’

Esther 4:7

4:7 Then Mordecai related to him everything that had happened to him, even the specific amount of money that Haman had offered to pay to the king’s treasuries for the Jews to be destroyed.

Esther 5:14

5:14 Haman’s ³  wife Zeresh and all his friends said to him, “Have a gallows seventy-five feet ⁴  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.” ⁵ 

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 ⁶  gave written orders that Haman’s ⁷  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 “as the heart of the king was good with the wine.” Here the proper name (King Ahasuerus) has been substituted for the title in the translation for stylistic reasons.

² tn Heb “King Ahasuerus”; here the proper name has been replaced by the pronoun “him” in the translation for stylistic reasons. Cf. similarly NIV, NCV, CEV, NLT “King Xerxes.”

³ tn Heb “his”; the referent (Haman) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁴ 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.”

⁵ tn Or “joyful”; NRSV “in good spirits”; TEV “happy.”

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

⁶ tn Heb “his”; the referent (Haman) has been specified in the translation for clarity.