Esther Pleads for Her People
The king and Haman come to dine again with Esther, and while they drink wine the king repeats his standing offer to grant Esther's petition and request.
S1o the king and Haman went to dine with Esther the queen, 2and as they drank their wine on that second day, the king asked once more, “Queen Esther, what is your petition? It will be given to you. What is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be fulfilled.”
Esther asks first for her own life and then for the lives of her people, saying they have been sold to destruction, death, and annihilation. She adds that if the matter were only slavery she would have kept silent, since such distress would not justify burdening the king.
3Queen Esther replied, “If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it pleases the king, grant me my life as my petition, and the lives of my people as my request. 4For my people and I have been sold out to destruction, death, and annihilation. If we had merely been sold as menservants and maidservants, I would have remained silent, because no such distress would justify burdening the king.”
When the king demands to know who would devise such a scheme, Esther answers plainly: the adversary and enemy is Haman. At that word, Haman is terrified before king and queen.
5Then King Xerxes spoke up and asked Queen Esther, “Who is this, and where is the one who would devise such a scheme?” 6Esther replied, “The adversary and enemy is this wicked man — Haman!”