Esther 5:14

Let a gallows be made Heb. tree. See Esther 2:23. -Fifty cubits" is a hyperbolical expression meaning exceedingly high. The cubit at this time was probably equal to six handbreadths, and thus approximately 1½ feet in English measure. Zeresh and the rest considered it a safe assumption that one who had such influence with the king as to be permitted to condemn a whole nation to be exterminated within a few months, might reckon absolutely on obtaining authority to put an individual of that nation to death at once. Hence the order for the erection of the -gallows" might be made beforehand, although according to Persian law the power of life and death resided in the king alone.