1
Es 7:1-6.
英文原文
Es 7:1-6.
ESTHER PLEADS FOR HER OWN LIFE AND THE LIFE OF HER PEOPLE.
4
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4. 我和我的本族被卖了，要被剪除——即被那人残忍而不忠的诡计所卖，他曾献上巨额钱财，要买我们全族的灭绝。以斯帖用种种不同的说法反复述说他所图谋的暴行，既表明她自己情感之深切，也是要唤起王心中类似的感受。
我们若被卖为奴为婢，我也闭口不言——犹太人被卖为奴虽是一大灾祸，却可使国库富足；而且无论如何，这一政策若经证明为不善，尚可更改。但如此众多的人民被毁灭，却是无可挽回的祸患，哈曼即使把无数银子倒进国库，也无法补偿失去他们服事的损失。
英文原文
4. we are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed--that is, by the cruel and perfidious scheme of that man, who offered an immense sum of money to purchase our extermination. Esther dwelt on his contemplated atrocity, in a variety of expressions, which both evinced the depth of her own emotions, and were intended to awaken similar feelings in the king's breast.
But if we had been sold for bondmen and bondwomen, I had held my tongue--Though a great calamity to the Jews, the enslavement of that people might have enriched the national treasury; and, at all events, the policy, if found from experience to be bad, could be altered. But the destruction of such a body of people would be an irreparable evil, and all the talents Haman might pour into the treasury could not compensate for the loss of their services.
7
Es 7:7-10.
斯 7:7-10。
王吩咐将哈曼吊死在他自己的木架上。
7. 王见有恶事临到他——波斯王下令处死一个罪犯之后，随即起身进入内院女眷的住处，便是无可指望宽恕的记号。甚至王在盛怒中突然起身，便等同于已宣告了判决。
英文原文
Es 7:7-10.
THE KING CAUSES HAMAN TO BE HANGED ON HIS OWN GALLOWS.
7. he saw that there was evil determined against him by the king--When the king of Persia orders an offender to be executed, and then rises and goes into the women's apartment, it is a sign that no mercy is to be hoped for. Even the sudden rising of the king in anger was the same as if he had pronounced sentence.
8
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8. 哈曼正伏在以斯帖所躺的榻上——波斯人在席上斜倚的卧榻，确切样式我们不得而知。但很可能与希腊人和罗马人所用的没有多大差别。哈曼也许起初是站起来求以斯帖开恩；但被逼到绝境，便不得不采取最恳切哀求的姿态，扑倒在那王后斜倚的卧榻上。王恰在那时回来，便因这看似侵犯女性端庄的举动而怒火中烧。
他们就蒙了哈曼的脸——这一举动引人注目的含义在于：一个罪犯已不配再看王的面；因此，在波斯，罪犯被押去处刑之时，第一件事便是用面纱或布巾蒙住他的脸。
英文原文
8. Haman was fallen upon the bed whereon Esther was--We do not know the precise form of the couches on which the Persians reclined at table. But it is probable that they were not very different from those used by the Greeks and Romans. Haman, perhaps, at first stood up to beg pardon of Esther; but driven in his extremity to resort to an attitude of the most earnest supplication, he fell prostrate on the couch where the queen was recumbent. The king returning that instant was fired at what seemed an outrage on female modesty.
they covered Haman's face--The import of this striking action is, that a criminal is unworthy any longer to look on the face of the king, and hence, when malefactors are consigned to their doom in Persia, the first thing is to cover the face with a veil or napkin.
9
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9. 太监哈波拿在王面前说，看哪，那木架——这太监很可能是被差去送请柬给哈曼的使者，那一次便看见了那木架。他如今主动提供这一消息，既可能是出于对哈曼那冷酷阴谋的憎恶，也可能是出于对他那可亲的女主人的同情——她与她的百姓一同陷于迫在眉睫的危险之中。
英文原文
9. Harbonah, one of the chamberlains, said before the king, Behold also, the gallows--This eunuch had probably been the messenger sent with the invitation to Haman, and on that occasion had seen the gallows. The information he now volunteered, as well it may be from abhorrence of Haman's cold-blooded conspiracy as from sympathy with his amiable mistress, involved with her people in imminent peril.
10
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10. 于是人将哈曼挂在他为末底改所预备的木架上——图谋恶事的人，自己的脚被自己所暗藏的网罗缠住，他并非绝无仅有
(诗 9:15)。
但像对这位滔天罪犯的处决那样，定罪如此公正、报应如此当得的，从来未有。
英文原文
10. So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai--He has not been the only plotter of mischief whose feet have been taken in the net which they hid
(Ps 9:15).
But never was condemnation more just, and retribution more merited, than the execution of that gigantic criminal.
斯 7:1-6。
以斯帖为己命与同胞之命恳求。