Esther 5:8

5:8 If I have found favor in the king’s sight and if the king is inclined ¹  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 ²  I will do as the king wishes. 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.

[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.

[5:8]  ² tn Heb “and tomorrow” (so NASB); NAB, NRSV “and then.”

[5:8]  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.”

[5:14]  ⁴ tn Heb “his”; the referent (Haman) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[5:14]  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.”

[5:14]  ⁶ tn Or “joyful”; NRSV “in good spirits”; TEV “happy.”