Esther 5:8-14

8 If I have found favor in the sight of the king, and if it please the king to grant my petition and to perform my request, let the king and Haman come to the banquet that I shall prepare for them, and I will do tomorrow as the king hath said."

9 Then went Haman forth that day joyful and with a glad heart; but when Haman saw Mordecai in the king's gate, that he stood not up nor moved for him, he was full of indignation against Mordecai.

10 Nevertheless Haman refrained himself; and when he came home, he sent and called for his friends and Zeresh his wife.

11 And Haman told them of the glory of his riches and the multitude of his children, and all the things wherein the king had promoted him, and how he had advanced him above the princes and servants of the king.

12 Haman said moreover, "Yea, Esther the queen let no man but myself come in with the king unto the banquet that she had prepared, and tomorrow am I invited unto her also with the king.

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

14 Then said Zeresh his wife and all his friends unto him, "Let a gallows be made of fifty cubits high, and tomorrow speak thou unto the king, that Mordecai may be hanged thereon. Then go thou in merrily with the king unto the banquet." And the thing pleased Haman, and he caused the gallows to be made.

Esther 5:8-14 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.