1 So King Zerk-sees (Xerxes) and Haman went to have a second supper with Queen Esther. 2 When they were drinking wine, Zerk-sees asked Esther again, “What do you want Queen Esther? I will give you whatever you want, even if it is half of my country.”

3 Then Queen Esther answered, “You have asked me what I want and this is my answer. If you are happy with me, my king, and if it makes you happy, can you save me and my people? 4 Someone is trying to kill me and all my people. They want to finish us up and make it look like we were never alive. If we were going to be sold as slaves that would be all right and I wouldn't have said anything to you, but someone wants to kill me and all my people.”

5 King Zerk-sees said to Esther, “Who wants to kill you? Who has made up his mind to do such a bad thing? Where is that man?”

6 Esther said, “That man sitting next to you. He is really bad and he is the one who hates me and my people. He is the enemy of my people.”

When Esther said that, Haman got very frightened of the king and the queen.

7 The king was so wild, he got up. He left the wine he was drinking and walked out into the palace garden. But Haman stayed inside and asked Queen Esther again and again to save his life. He knew that the king was going to tell his soldiers to kill him.

8 When King Zerk-sees came back to the supper room after walking in the garden, he saw Haman falling down on the long chair Esther was lying on. The king shouted out loud, “Haman is trying to hurt the queen. And he is doing it in front of me and in my own house!”

As soon as he said those words, the king's workers covered Haman's face. They did that to show that Haman was going to die. 9 Harbona, one of the king's special workers said to Zerk-sees, “King Zerk-sees, Haman told his workers to build a very high pole in front of his house. He was going to ask you to put More-dek-eye (Mordecai) up on it. More-dek-eye was the man that warned you about the men who wanted to kill you.”

Then Zerk-sees said, “Take Haman away and put him up on his own pole!” 10 So, the king's soldiers put Haman up on the pole that was made to kill More-dek-eye. Then the king stopped being angry.

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