Humanitext Reader

Septuagint · Esther §7.1-7.10

Esther's Accusation and the Execution of Haman

Passage 10 of 14 · Greek

Summary

The king and Haman attend Esther's second banquet, where she pleads for her life and her people, exposing Haman as their enemy. In his fury, the king orders Haman to be hanged on the very gallows he had prepared for Mordecai.

§7.1Ἑἰσῆλθεν δὲ ὁ βασιλεὺς καὶ Ἀμὰν συνπιεῖν τῇ βασιλίσσῃ. §7.2εἶπεν δὲ ὁ βασιλεὺς Ἐσθὴρ τῇ δευτέρᾳ ἡμέρᾳ ἐν τῷ πότῳ Τί ἐστιν, Ἐσθὴρ βασίλισσα, καὶ τί τὸ αἴτημά σου καὶ τί τὸ ἀξίωμά σου;
So the king and Haman went in to drink with the queen. And the king said to Esther on the second day during the banquet, "What is it, Queen Esther, and what is your petition and what is your request?
καὶ ἔστω σοι ἕως τοῦ ἡμίσους τῆς βασιλείας μου. §7.3καὶ ἀποκριθεῖσα εἶπεν Εἰ εὗρον χάριν ἐνώπιον τοῦ βασιλέως, δοθήτω ἡ ψυχὴ τῷ αἰτήματί μου, καὶ ὁ λόγος μου τῷ ἀξιώματί μου. §7.4ἐπράθημεν γὰρ ἐγὼ τε καὶ ὁ λαός μου εἰς ἀπωλίαν καὶ διαρπαγὴν καὶ δουλίαν, ἡμεῖς καὶ τὰ τέκνα ἡμῶν εἰς παῖδας καὶ παιδίσκας, καὶ παρήκουσα· οὐ γὰρ ἄξιος ὁ διάβολος τῆς αὐλῆς τοῦ βασιλέως. §7.5εἶπεν δὲ ὁ βασιλεὺς Τίς οὗτος ὅστις ἐτόλμησεν ποιῆσαι τὸ πρᾶγμα τοῦτο; §7.6εἶπεν δὲ Ἐσθῆρ Ἁνθρωπος ἐχθρὸς Ἀμὰν ὁ πονηρὸς οὗτος. Ἀμὰν δὲ ἐταράχθη ἀπὸ τοῦ βασλέως καὶ τῆς βασιλίσσης. §7.7ὁ δὲ βασιλεὺς ἐξαυέστη ἀπὸ τοῦ συμποσίου εἰς τὸν κῆπον· ὁ δὲ Ἀμὰν παρῃτεῖτο τὴν βασίλισσαν, ἑώρα γὰρ ἑαυτὸν ἐν κακοῖς ὄντα. §7.8ἐπέστρεψεν δὲ ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐκ τοῦ κήπου, Ἀμὰν δὲ ἐπιπεπτώκει ἐπὶ τὴν κλίνην ἀξιῶν τὴν βασίλισσαν· εἶπεν δὲ ὁ βασιλεύς Ὡστε καὶ τὴν γυναῖκα βιάζῃ ἐν τῇ οἰκίᾳ μου; Ἀμὰν δὲ ἀκούσας διετράπη τῷ προσώπῳ. §7.9εἶπεν δὲ Βουγαθὰν εἶς τῶν εὐνούχων πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα Ἰδοὺ καὶ ξύλον ἡτοίμασεν Ἀμὰν Μαρδοχαίῳ τῷ λαλήσαντι περὶ τοῦ βασιλέως, καὶ ὤρθωται ἐν τοῖς Ἀμὰν ξύλον πηχῶν πεντήκοντα. εἶπεν δὲ ὁ βασιλεύς Σταυρωθήτω ἐπʼ αὐτοῦ. §7.10καὶ ἐκρεμάσθη Ἀμὰν ἐπὶ τοῦ ξύλου ὃ ἡτοιμάσθη Μαρδοχαίῳ.
It shall be granted to you, even to half of my kingdom." And she answered and said, "If I have found favor in the sight of the king, let my life be given to me at my petition, and my word at my request. For we have been sold, both I and my people, to destruction, plunder, and slavery—ourselves and our children as male and female slaves—and I kept silent; for the adversary is not worthy of the king’s court." And the king said, "Who is this that has dared to do this thing?" And Esther said, "The enemy is this wicked man, Haman!" Then Haman was terrified before the king and the queen. And the king rose up from the banquet into the garden; but Haman began to beg the queen for his life, for he saw that he was in a state of ruin. And the king returned from the garden, and Haman had fallen upon the couch, entreating the queen; and the king said, "Will you even violate the woman in my house?" And when Haman heard it, he was downcast in his face. And Bugathan, one of the eunuchs, said to the king, "Behold, Haman has also prepared a gallows for Mordecai, who spoke on behalf of the king; and a gallows fifty cubits high has been erected at Haman’s house." And the king said, "Let him be crucified on it!" So Haman was hanged on the gallows that had been prepared for Mordecai.
καὶ τότε ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐκόπασεν τοῦ θυμοῦ.
And then the king’s anger abated.

Notes

  1. 7.3ὁ λόγος μου — The Greek "ὁ λόγος μου" (my word) corresponds to "עַמִּי" (my people) in the Hebrew Masoretic text. The LXX translator may have misread the Hebrew root or deliberately rendered it as "my word/petition." Syntactically, it serves as the subject corresponding to the dative "τῷ ἀξιώματί μου" (at my request).
  2. 7.4καὶ παρήκουσα — The aorist indicative παρήκουσα (from παρακούω, "to turn a deaf ear, ignore, endure") translates the Hebrew conditional clause "if we had been sold merely as slaves, I would have kept silent." The LXX renders this instead as a positive past action meaning "and yet I disregarded/endured it."
  3. 7.4οὐ γὰρ ἄξιος ὁ διάβολος τῆς αὐλῆς τοῦ βασιλέως — The adjective ἄξιος governs the genitive (τῆς αὐλῆς), meaning "for the adversary is not worthy of the king’s court." This is the LXX's reconstruction of a difficult Hebrew phrase regarding the enemy's damage not compensating for the king's loss.
  4. 7.8Ἀμὰν δὲ ἐπιπεπτώκει ἐπὶ τὴν κλίνην ἀξιῶν τὴν βασίλισσαν — The pluperfect ἐπιπεπτώκει ("had fallen") is accompanied by the present participle ἀξιῶν ("entreating"). This vivid construction describes the completed state of Haman's desperate posture, already collapsed on the queen's couch when the king re-entered.
  5. 7.9ἐν τοῖς Ἀμὰν — An idiomatic elliptical expression with the neuter plural article, meaning "at Haman's (house/property)."
  6. 7.10ἐκόπασεν τοῦ θυμοῦ — The intransitive verb ἐκόπασεν (from κοπάζω, "to abate, cease") takes the genitive of separation (τοῦ θυμοῦ), meaning "[the king] ceased from his anger" or "his anger abated."

Cite this passage

Septuagint, Esther §7.1-7.10. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0527.tlg019.humanitext-grc1:7.1-7.10

Please note the AI-draft status of the translation and the date accessed.

Translation, notes and summary are AI-generated drafts, revised through reader feedback.