Esther 5:9-14

Haman Plans to Hang Mordecai

9 And Haman went out that day ¹joyful and glad of heart. But when Haman saw Mordecai ²in the king's gate, ³that he neither rose nor trembled before him, he was filled with wrath against Mordecai.

10 Nevertheless, Haman restrained himself and went home, and he sent and brought his friends and ⁴his wife Zeresh.

11 And Haman recounted to them the splendor of his riches, ⁵the number of his sons, all the promotions with which ⁶the king had honored him, and how he had advanced him above the officials and the servants of the king.

12 Then Haman said, "Even Queen Esther let no one but me come with the king to the feast she prepared. And tomorrow also I am invited by her together with the king.

13 Yet all this is worth nothing to me, so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting ⁷at the king's gate."

14 Then ⁸his wife Zeresh and all his friends said to him, ⁹"Let a gallows^[a] fifty cubits^[b] high be made, and in the morning tell the king to have Mordecai hanged upon it. Then go joyfully with the king to the feast." This idea pleased Haman, and he had the gallows made.

Esther 5:9-14 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO ESTHER 5

This chapter gives an account of Esther's going in to the king, and of his holding out the golden sceptre to her, on which she invited him and Haman to a banquet of wine that day, and to another the next day, Es 5:1-8, which highly delighted Haman; and he went to his house and family with great joy, and yet chagrined at Mordecai's not bowing to him; wherefore, at the advice of his wife and friends, he erected a gallows to hang him upon, proposing to get a grant for it from the king the next day, Es 5:9-14.

Cross References

• 1. 1 Kings 8:66
• 2. See Esther 2:19
• 3. Esther 3:5
• 4. Esther 6:13
• 5. See Esther 9:7-10
• 6. Esther 3:1
• 7. [See ver. 9 above]
• 8. [See ver. 10 above]
• 9. Esther 6:4; Esther 7:9, 10; [Esther 8:7; Esther 9:13, 25]

Footnotes

• [a]. Or stake; twice in this verse
• [b]. A cubit was about 18 inches or 45 centimeters