Esther 7 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.

So the king and Haman came to drink wine with Queen Esther.

On this second day of the banquet, while they were drinking wine, the king again asked Esther, "What is your request, Queen Esther? It will be granted. What do you want? Even up to half the kingdom — it's yours."

Queen Esther answered, "If I've found favor with you, Your Majesty, and if it pleases the king — let my life be spared. That's my request. And let my people be spared. That's what I want.

Because my people and I have been sold — to be destroyed, killed, and wiped out. If we had merely been sold as slaves — men and women alike — I would have kept quiet, because that kind of trouble wouldn't be worth bothering the king about."

King Ahasuerus demanded, "Who is he? Where is the man who dared to do this?"

Esther said, "The enemy — the adversary — is this evil man Haman." Haman was terrified in the presence of the king and queen.

The king got up in a rage from the wine banquet and went out to the palace garden. Haman stayed behind to beg Queen Esther for his life, because he could see that the king had decided his fate.

When the king returned from the palace garden to the banquet hall, Haman had thrown himself on the couch where Esther was reclining. The king exclaimed, "Is he actually going to assault the queen right here in the palace, with me present?" The moment those words left the king's mouth, they covered Haman's face.

Harbona, one of the eunuchs attending the king, said, "Look — there's also the stake that Haman set up for Mordecai, who spoke up to save the king's life. It's standing at Haman's house — seventy-five feet tall." The king said, "Impale him on it."

So they impaled Haman on the stake he had set up for Mordecai. And the king's anger subsided.