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'''Zeresh''' ([[Hebrew language|Hebrew]]: זֶרֶשׁ) was the wife of [[Haman (Bible)|Haman]] the [[Agagite]] who is mentioned in the [[Hebrew Bible]] in the [[Book of Esther]].<ref name="Meyers">{{cite book |title=Women in Scripture: A Dictionary of Named and Unnamed Women in the Bible, the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books, and the New Testament |last=Meyers |first=Carol |publisher=Eerdmans Publishing Company |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-8028-4962-5 |page=168 |last2=Craven |first2=Toni |last3=Kraemer |first3=Ross Shepard}}</ref>

==Etymology==
The etymology of the name Zeresh is debated. Some scholars suggest that the name may derive from the [[Avestan]] word ''zairiçi'', ‘blonde’, while others have related it to the Elamite deity [[Kiririsha|Kiriša]] or to an [[Daeva|Avestan demoness]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Ancient Persia and the Book of Esther: Achaemenid Court Culture in the Hebrew Bible |last=Llewellyn-Jones |first=Lloyd |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |year=2023 |isbn=978-1-78673-635-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RYSmEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA194 |page=194}}</ref>

==Role in Book of Esther==
Zeresh advised her husband to prepare a high [[gallows]] (50 [[cubit]]s) and to hang [[Mordecai]] on it ([[Esther 5:14]]). However, she later advised Haman that he would not be able to win against Mordecai (Esther 6:12-13).<ref name="Meyers" /> Their plans were soon reversed when King [[Ahasuerus]] ordered Haman to be hanged on the same gallows which he had prepared for Mordecai (Esther 7:9-10).  

Ten [[sons of Haman]] (and possibly of Zeresh) were later killed in fighting, and [[Ahasuerus]] had their bodies hanged on the same gallows that their father was hanged on (Esther 9:7-14). Zeresh's fate is not recorded.   

==References==
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{{Hebrew-Bible-stub}}
{{Book of Esther}}
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[[Category:Book of Esther people]]
[[Category:Women in the Hebrew Bible]]