Esther 5:6-8

5:6 While at the banquet of wine, the king said to Esther, “What is your request? It shall be given to you. What is your petition? Ask for as much as half the kingdom, ¹  and it shall be done!”

5:7 Esther responded, ²  “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 ³  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 ⁴  I will do as the king wishes. ⁵ 

¹ sn As much as half the kingdom. Such a statement would no doubt have been understood for the exaggeration that it clearly was. Cf. the similar NT scene recorded in Mark 6:23, where Herod makes a similar promise to the daughter of Herodias. In that case the request was for the head of John the Baptist, which is a lot less than half the kingdom.

² tn Heb “answered and said.” This is somewhat redundant in contemporary English and has been simplified in the translation.

³ 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.

⁴ tn Heb “and tomorrow” (so NASB); NAB, NRSV “and then.”

⁵ 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.”