הָמָן

Esther 3:1 הָמָ֧ן Haman

After these events, King Xerxes honored Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, elevating him to a position above all the princes who were with him.

Here: The villain appears here for the first time, and abruptly. The narrator gives no reason for his rise.

Esther 3:2 לְהָמָ֔ן to Haman

All the royal servants at the king’s gate bowed down and paid homage to Haman, because the king had commanded that this be done for him. But Mordecai would not bow down or pay homage.

Esther 3:4 לְהָמָ֗ן to Haman

Day after day they warned him, but he would not comply. So they reported it to Haman to see whether Mordecai’s behavior would be tolerated, since he had told them he was a Jew.

Esther 3:5 הָמָ֔ן הָמָ֖ן Haman

When Haman saw that Mordecai would not bow down or pay him homage, he was filled with rage.

Esther 3:6 הָמָ֗ן Haman

And when he learned the identity of Mordecai’s people, he scorned the notion of laying hands on Mordecai alone. Instead, he sought to destroy all of Mordecai’s people, the Jews, throughout the kingdom of Xerxes.

Esther 3:7 הָמָ֗ן Haman

In the twelfth year of King Xerxes, in the first month, the month of Nisan, the Pur (that is, the lot) was cast before Haman to determine a day and month. And the lot fell on the twelfth month, the month of Adar.

Esther 3:8 הָמָן֙ Haman

Then Haman informed King Xerxes, “There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the peoples of every province of your kingdom. Their laws are different from everyone else’s, and they do not obey the king’s laws. So it is not in the king’s best interest to tolerate them.

Here: The Agagite whom the king has just promoted above all his officials (3:1). Mordecai has refused to bow to him (3:2–5), and he is the speaker here.

Esther 3:10 לְהָמָ֧ן to Haman

So the king removed the signet ring from his finger and gave it to Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews.

Esther 3:11 לְהָמָ֔ן to Haman

“Keep your money,” said the king to Haman. “These people are given to you to do with them as you please.”

Esther 3:12 הָמָ֡ן Haman

On the thirteenth day of the first month, the royal scribes were summoned and the order was written exactly as Haman commanded the royal satraps, the governors of each province, and the officials of each people, in the script of each province and the language of every people. It was written in the name of King Xerxes and sealed with the royal signet ring.

Here: The Agagite vizier (chief minister), who is the real author of the decree even though it goes out in the king's name.

Esther 3:15 וְהָמָן֙ and Haman

The couriers left, spurred on by the king’s command, and the edict was issued in the citadel of Susa. Then the king and Haman sat down to drink, but the city of Susa was in confusion.

Here: Haman the Agagite, author of the plot, now sharing the king's table as an equal in leisure.

Esther 4:7 הָמָן֙ Haman

and Mordecai told him all that had happened to him, including the exact amount of money that Haman had promised to pay into the royal treasury in order to destroy the Jews.

Esther 5:4 וְהָמָן֙ and Haman

“If it pleases the king,” Esther replied, “may the king and Haman come today to the banquet I have prepared for the king.”

Esther 5:5 הָמָ֔ן וְהָמָ֔ן Haman, and Haman

“Hurry,” commanded the king, “and bring Haman, so we can do as Esther has requested.” So the king and Haman went to the banquet that Esther had prepared.

Esther 5:8 וְהָמָ֗ן and Haman

If I have found favor in the sight of the king, and if it pleases the king to grant my petition and fulfill my request, may the king and Haman come tomorrow to the banquet I will prepare for them. Then I will answer the king’s question.”

Esther 5:9 הָמָן֙ הָמָ֨ן הָמָ֛ן Haman

That day Haman went out full of joy and glad of heart. At the king’s gate, however, he saw Mordecai, who did not rise or tremble in fear at his presence. And Haman was filled with rage toward Mordecai.

Esther 5:10 הָמָ֔ן Haman

Nevertheless, Haman restrained himself and went home. And calling for his friends and his wife Zeresh,

Esther 5:11 הָמָ֛ן Haman

Haman recounted to them his glorious wealth, his many sons, and all the ways the king had honored and promoted him over the other officials and servants.

Here: The Agagite, the king's chief minister (3:1), who has just been enraged by Mordecai's refusal to rise or tremble before him (5:9).

Esther 5:12 הָמָן֒ Haman

“What is more,” Haman added, “Queen Esther invited no one but me to join the king at the banquet she prepared, and I am invited back tomorrow along with the king.

Esther 5:14 הָמָ֖ן Haman

His wife Zeresh and all his friends told him, “Have them build a gallows fifty cubits high, and ask the king in the morning to have Mordecai hanged on it. Then go to the banquet with the king and enjoy yourself.” The advice pleased Haman, and he had the gallows constructed.

Here: The Agagite (3:1), the king's chief minister and the enemy of the Jews.

Esther 6:4 וְהָמָ֣ן and Haman

“Who is in the court?” the king asked. Now Haman had just entered the outer court of the palace to ask the king to hang Mordecai on the gallows he had prepared for him.

Esther 6:5 הָמָ֖ן Haman

So the king’s attendants answered him, “Haman is there, standing in the court.” “Bring him in,” ordered the king.

Here: The king's chief official and Mordecai's enemy. He has come early in the morning to ask for permission to hang Mordecai (6:4).

Esther 6:6 הָמָן֒ הָמָן֙ Haman

Haman entered, and the king asked him, “What should be done for the man whom the king is delighted to honor?” Now Haman thought to himself, “Whom would the king be delighted to honor more than me?”

Esther 6:7 הָמָ֖ן Haman

And Haman told the king, “For the man whom the king is delighted to honor,

Esther 6:10 לְהָמָ֗ן to Haman

“Hurry,” said the king to Haman, “and do just as you proposed. Take the robe and the horse to Mordecai the Jew, who is sitting at the king’s gate. Do not neglect anything that you have suggested.”

Esther 6:11 הָמָן֙ Haman

So Haman took the robe and the horse, arrayed Mordecai, and paraded him through the city square, crying out before him, “This is what is done for the man whom the king is delighted to honor!”

Esther 6:12 וְהָמָן֙ and Haman

Then Mordecai returned to the king’s gate. But Haman rushed home, with his head covered in grief.

Esther 6:13 הָמָ֜ן Haman

Haman told his wife Zeresh and all his friends everything that had happened. His advisers and his wife Zeresh said to him, “Since Mordecai, before whom your downfall has begun, is Jewish, you will not prevail against him—for surely you will fall before him.”

Here: The king's top official, called "the Agagite" in 3:1. He has just been made to lead his enemy through the city square in royal honour (6:11).

Esther 6:14 הָמָ֔ן Haman

While they were still speaking with Haman, the king’s eunuchs arrived and rushed him to the banquet that Esther had prepared.

Esther 7:1 וְהָמָ֔ן and Haman

So the king and Haman went to dine with Esther the queen,

Esther 7:6 הָמָ֥ן וְהָמָ֣ן Haman, and Haman

Esther replied, “The adversary and enemy is this wicked man—Haman!” And Haman stood in terror before the king and queen.

Here: The name finally lands, after the build-up. Haman is the king's highest official (3:1), so naming him is a direct accusation against the second most powerful man in the empire.

Esther 7:7 וְהָמָ֣ן and Haman

In his fury, the king arose from drinking his wine and went to the palace garden, while Haman stayed behind to beg Queen Esther for his life, for he realized that the king was planning a terrible fate for him.

Esther 7:8 וְהָמָן֙ הָמָ֖ן and Haman, Haman

Just as the king returned from the palace garden to the banquet hall, Haman was falling on the couch where Esther was reclining. The king exclaimed, “Would he actually assault the queen while I am in the palace?” As soon as the words had left the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face.

Esther 7:9 הָמָ֟ן הָמָ֔ן Haman

Then Harbonah, one of the eunuchs attending the king, said: “There is a gallows fifty cubits high at Haman’s house. He had it built for Mordecai, who gave the report that saved the king.” “Hang him on it!” declared the king.

Here: The Agagite vizier who plotted to destroy the Jews. In the sentence he is the one who built the pole.

Esther 7:10 הָמָ֔ן Haman

So they hanged Haman on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the fury of the king subsided.

Here: The Agagite (3:1), the king's top official and the author of the decree to destroy the Jews. Readers in Israel would hear 'Agagite' as a link to Agag, the Amalekite king (1 Sam 15), Israel's ancestral enemy.

Esther 8:1 הָמָ֖ן Haman

That same day King Xerxes awarded Queen Esther the estate of Haman, the enemy of the Jews. And Mordecai entered the king’s presence because Esther had revealed his relation to her.

Here: The Agagite vizier, already dead on his own 50-cubit pole (7:10).

Esther 8:2 מֵֽהָמָ֔ן הָמָֽן׃ פ from Haman, Haman

The king removed the signet ring he had recovered from Haman and presented it to Mordecai. And Esther appointed Mordecai over the estate of Haman.

Esther 8:3 הָמָ֣ן Haman

And once again, Esther addressed the king. She fell at his feet weeping and begged him to revoke the evil scheme of Haman the Agagite, which he had devised against the Jews.

Esther 8:5 הָמָ֤ן Haman

“If it pleases the king,” she said, “and if I have found favor in his sight, and the matter seems proper to the king, and I am pleasing in his sight, may an order be written to revoke the letters that the scheming Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, wrote to destroy the Jews in all the king’s provinces.

Here: The king's chief minister, already hanged (7:10). His decree is still in force.

Esther 8:7 הָמָ֜ן Haman

So King Xerxes said to Esther the Queen and Mordecai the Jew, “Behold, I have given Haman’s estate to Esther, and he was hanged on the gallows because he attacked the Jews.

Here: The disgraced chief minister. His name is placed early in the clause, so the stress falls on whose property has changed hands.

Esther 9:10 הָמָ֧ן Haman

They killed these ten sons of Haman son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews, but they did not lay a hand on the plunder.

Esther 9:12 הָמָ֔ן Haman

who said to Queen Esther, “In the citadel of Susa the Jews have killed and destroyed five hundred men, including Haman’s ten sons. What have they done in the rest of the royal provinces? Now what is your petition? It will be given to you. And what further do you request? It will be fulfilled.”

Esther 9:13 הָמָ֖ן Haman

Esther replied, “If it pleases the king, may the Jews in Susa also have tomorrow to carry out today’s edict, and may the bodies of Haman’s ten sons be hanged on the gallows.”

Esther 9:14 הָמָ֖ן Haman

So the king commanded that this be done. An edict was issued in Susa, and they hanged the ten sons of Haman.

Esther 9:24 הָמָ֨ן Haman

For Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had plotted against the Jews to destroy them and had cast the Pur (that is, the lot) to crush and destroy them.