Esther 5:10

5:10 But Haman restrained himself and went on to his home.

He then sent for his friends to join him, ¹  along with his wife Zeresh.

Esther 5:14

5:14 Haman’s ²  wife Zeresh and all his friends said to him, “Have a gallows seventy-five feet ³  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.” ⁴ 

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

[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).

[5:14]  ² tn Heb “his”; the referent (Haman) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[5:14]  ³ 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.”

[5:14]  ⁴ tn Or “joyful”; NRSV “in good spirits”; TEV “happy.”