< Esther 7 >

1 So the king and Haman came in, to banquet with Esther the queen.
王帶着哈曼來赴王后以斯帖的筵席。
2 Then said the king unto Esther, on the second day also, during the banquet of wine, What is thy petition, Queen Esther, that it may be granted thee? and what is thy request—unto the half of the kingdom—that it may be performed?
這第二次在酒席筵前,王又問以斯帖說:「王后以斯帖啊,你要甚麼,我必賜給你;你求甚麼,就是國的一半也必為你成就。」
3 Then answered Esther the queen, and said, If I have found favour in thine eyes, O king, and if, unto the king, it seem good, let my life be granted me, as my petition, and my people, as my request;
王后以斯帖回答說:「我若在王眼前蒙恩,王若以為美,我所願的,是願王將我的性命賜給我;我所求的,是求王將我的本族賜給我。
4 For we are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain and to be caused to perish. If indeed, for bondmen and for bondwomen, we had been sold, I had held my peace, although the adversary could not have made good the damage to the king.
因我和我的本族被賣了,要剪除殺戮滅絕我們。我們若被賣為奴為婢,我也閉口不言;但王的損失,敵人萬不能補足。」
5 Then spake King Ahasuerus, and said unto Esther the queen, —Who is he now, and where is he, whose heart is set to act thus?
亞哈隨魯王問王后以斯帖說:「擅敢起意如此行的是誰?這人在哪裏呢?」
6 And Esther said, A man who is an adversary and enemy, this wicked Haman. And, Haman, was terrified, before the king and the queen.
以斯帖說:「仇人敵人就是這惡人哈曼!」 哈曼在王和王后面前就甚驚惶。
7 Now, the king, arising in his wrath from the banquet of wine, and going into the palace garden, Haman, stood to make request for his life from Esther the queen, for he saw that ruin, was determined against him, by the king.
王便大怒,起來離開酒席往御園去了。哈曼見王定意要加罪與他,就起來,求王后以斯帖救命。
8 When, the king, returned out of the palace garden into the place of the banquet of wine, Haman, was lying prostrate upon the couch whereon Esther was. Then said the king, Will he, even dare to force the queen, while I am in the house? No sooner had the word gone forth out of the mouth of the king, than, the face of Haman, they had covered.
王從御園回到酒席之處,見哈曼伏在以斯帖所靠的榻上;王說:「他竟敢在宮內、在我面前凌辱王后嗎?」這話一出王口,人就蒙了哈曼的臉。
9 Then said Harbonah—one of the eunuchs before the king—Yea lo! the gallows that Haman made ready for Mordecai, who had spoken well for the king, is standing in Haman’s house, of a height of fifty cubits. Then said the king, Hang him thereon.
伺候王的一個太監名叫哈波拿,說:「哈曼為那救王有功的末底改做了五丈高的木架,現今立在哈曼家裏。」王說:「把哈曼掛在其上。」
10 So they hanged Haman on the gallows which he had prepared for Mordecai, —and, the wrath of the king, was appeased.
於是人將哈曼掛在他為末底改所預備的木架上。王的忿怒這才止息。

< Esther 7 >