Esther 2:9

2:9 This young woman pleased him, ¹  and she found favor with him. He quickly provided her with her cosmetics and her rations; he also provided her with the seven specially chosen ²  young women who were from the palace. He then transferred her and her young women to the best quarters in the harem. ³ 

Esther 5:14

5:14 Haman’s ⁴  wife Zeresh and all his friends said to him, “Have a gallows seventy-five feet ⁵  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.” ⁶ 

It seemed like a good idea to Haman, so he had the gallows built.

¹ tn Heb “was good in his eyes”; NLT “Hegai was very impressed with Esther.”

² tn Heb “being looked at (with favor).”

³ tn Heb “of the house of the women” (so KJV, ASV). So also in vv. 11, 13, 14.

⁴ tn Heb “his”; the referent (Haman) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁵ 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.”

⁶ tn Or “joyful”; NRSV “in good spirits”; TEV “happy.”