Chapter Overview
Summary
Esther's second banquet and Haman's downfall. The LXX follows the MT closely. Esther reveals Haman's plot, the king's fury, and Haman is hanged on the gallows he prepared for Mordecai. The reversal theme reaches its climax.
Notable Variants
Minor differences in phrasing. The LXX occasionally expands the emotional descriptions. The core narrative — Esther's revelation, the king's rage, Haman falling on Esther's couch, and execution on his own gallows — is identical.
Structural Notes
Both versions have 10 verses.
So the king and Haman came to drink with Queen Esther.
No significant variant between the LXX and the MT for this verse.
On the second day, at the wine banquet, the king again said to Esther, "What is your petition, Queen Esther? It will be given to you. And what is your request? Up to half the kingdom, and it will be done."
No significant variant between the LXX and the MT for this verse.
Queen Esther answered, "If I have found favor in your eyes, O king, and if it pleases the king, let my life be given to me — that is my petition — and my people — that is my request."
No significant variant between the LXX and the MT for this verse.
For we have been sold — I and my people — to be annihilated, slaughtered, and wiped out. If we had only been sold into slavery as men and women servants, I would have kept silent, because that trouble would not have been worth disturbing the king.
Masoretic (WLC)
כִּי אֵין הַצָּר שֹׁוֶה בְּנֵזֶק הַמֶּלֶךְ
for the adversary is not worth the king's loss
Septuagint (LXX)
οὐ γὰρ ἄξιος ὁ διάβολος τῆς αὐλῆς τοῦ βασιλέως
for the slanderer is not worthy of the king's court
The LXX uses diabolos (slanderer/devil) for the MT's tsar (adversary). This Greek word would later become the standard term for Satan in Christian theology.
King Ahasuerus spoke up and said to Queen Esther, "Who is this person? Where is he — the one whose heart has filled him with the audacity to do such a thing?"
No significant variant between the LXX and the MT for this verse.
Esther said, "The adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman." And Haman was terrified before the king and the queen.
No significant variant between the LXX and the MT for this verse.
The king rose in his fury from the wine banquet and went out to the palace garden. Haman stayed behind to beg for his life from Queen Esther, because he could see that the king had resolved to destroy him.
No significant variant between the LXX and the MT for this verse.
The king returned from the palace garden to the banquet hall, and there was Haman, collapsed on the couch where Esther was reclining. The king said, "Will he even assault the queen while I am in the house?" As soon as the words left the king's mouth, they covered Haman's face.
Masoretic (WLC)
נָפַל עַל־הַמִּטָּה
he had fallen on the couch
Septuagint (LXX)
καὶ ἐπέπεσεν ἐπὶ τὴν κλίνην
he fell upon the couch
Both versions record the dramatic misunderstanding — the king interprets Haman's pleading posture as an assault on Esther. The LXX adds that 'the king was enraged' more emphatically.
Then Harbonah, one of the eunuchs attending the king, said, "There is also the pole standing at Haman's house — fifty cubits tall — which Haman made for Mordecai, the one who spoke up to save the king." The king said, "Hang him on it."
Masoretic (WLC)
עֵץ גָּבֹהַּ חֲמִשִּׁים אַמָּה
a gallows fifty cubits high
Septuagint (LXX)
ξύλον... πηχῶν πεντήκοντα
a pole fifty cubits high
Both versions give the height as fifty cubits (roughly 75 feet / 23 meters) — an absurd exaggeration underscoring Haman's overreach.
So they hanged Haman on the pole that he had prepared for Mordecai, and the king's fury subsided.
Masoretic (WLC)
וַחֲמַת הַמֶּלֶךְ שָׁכָכָה
and the king's fury abated
Septuagint (LXX)
καὶ ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐκόπασεν τοῦ θυμοῦ
and the king's rage subsided
Both versions note that the king's anger subsided only after Haman's execution. The reversal is complete: the gallows intended for Mordecai receives Haman.