Esther 8

That same day King Ahasuerus gave Queen Esther the property of Haman, the enemy of the Jews. And Mordecai came in before the king, because Esther had told the king that Mordecai was her relative.

1On that day did the king Ahasuerus give the house of Haman the Jews’ enemy unto Esther the queen. And Mordecai came before the king; for Esther had told what he was unto her.

Note"The house of Haman" means his whole estate, land, buildings, household goods and servants. Under Persian practice the property of a man executed for treason was forfeited to the crown, so the king had it to give away. Earlier in the book Mordecai is Esther's older cousin, who had raised her after her parents died; the King James "what he was unto her" simply means how the two were related.

2The king took off his signet ring, the one he had taken back from Haman, and gave it to Mordecai. And Esther put Mordecai in charge of Haman's property.

2And the king took off his ring, which he had taken from Haman, and gave it unto Mordecai. And Esther set Mordecai over the house of Haman.

NoteA signet ring carried the king's personal seal. Pressed into wet clay or wax on a document, it made the document legally the king's own word. Handing the ring over transferred that authority; Haman had held it, and Mordecai now takes his place as the king's chief minister.

3Esther spoke to the king again. She fell down at his feet and begged him with tears to undo the harm planned by Haman the Agagite, and the plot he had made against the Jews.

3And Esther spake yet again before the king, and fell down at his feet, and besought him with tears to put away the mischief of Haman the Agagite, and his device that he had devised against the Jews.

Note"Agagite" is the label the book always attaches to Haman. Agag was a king of the Amalekites, a people remembered in Israel's older writings as its bitterest early enemy, so the title marks Haman as an ancestral enemy of the Jews rather than naming a place he came from.

4Then the king held out the gold scepter toward Esther. So Esther got up and stood in front of the king.

4Then the king held out the golden sceptre toward Esther. So Esther arose, and stood before the king,

NoteEarlier in the book Esther explains the rule behind this gesture: anyone who came to the Persian king without being summoned could be put to death, unless the king extended his golden scepter toward them. Holding it out is the sign that she is accepted and may speak.

5She said, "If it pleases the king, and if he is pleased with me, and if the king thinks this is the right thing to do, and if I please him, let an order be written to cancel the letters Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite schemed up. He wrote them to destroy the Jews in all the king's provinces.

5And said, If it please the king, and if I have found favour in his sight, and the thing seem right before the king, and I be pleasing in his eyes, let it be written to reverse the letters devised by Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, which he wrote to destroy the Jews which are in all the king’s provinces:

NoteThe "letters" are royal decrees, written orders sent out by courier to the provincial governments and read aloud publicly. Haman's decree, issued earlier in the book, ordered the killing of all Jews in the empire on a fixed day.

6For how can I bear to watch the disaster that will come on my people? How can I bear to watch my own family destroyed?"

6For how can I endure to see the evil that shall come unto my people? or how can I endure to see the destruction of my kindred?

7Then King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, "Look, I have given Haman's property to Esther, and they have hanged him on the gallows, because he attacked the Jews.

7Then the king Ahasuerus said unto Esther the queen and to Mordecai the Jew, Behold, I have given Esther the house of Haman, and him they have hanged upon the gallows, because he laid his hand upon the Jews.

NoteThe King James "gallows" translates a Hebrew word meaning simply a tree, pole or wooden stake, and the execution described may have been hanging or impaling on such a pole; the text does not make the method clear. Earlier the pole is said to be fifty cubits, about seventy-five feet, high, tall enough to be seen across the city.

8Now you two write whatever you think best for the Jews, in the king's name, and seal it with the king's signet ring. No one can cancel an order that is written in the king's name and sealed with the king's ring."

8Write ye also for the Jews, as it liketh you, in the king’s name, and seal it with the king’s ring: for the writing which is written in the king’s name, and sealed with the king’s ring, may no man reverse.

NoteThe point being made is a peculiarity of Persian law as the book presents it: a sealed royal decree could not be withdrawn, even by the king who issued it. So Esther's request in verse 5 to "cancel" Haman's letters cannot be granted directly. What the king offers instead is a second, equally unrepealable decree written to work against the first.

9So the king's scribes were called in right then, on the twenty-third day of the third month, the month of Sivan. Everything Mordecai ordered was written down, to the Jews and to the chief officers, the governors, and the rulers of the provinces from India to Ethiopia, one hundred twenty-seven provinces. Each province got it in its own writing, each people in its own language, and the Jews in their own writing and language.

9Then were the king’s scribes called at that time in the third month, that is, the month Sivan, on the three and twentieth day thereof; and it was written according to all that Mordecai commanded unto the Jews, and to the lieutenants, and the deputies and rulers of the provinces which are from India unto Ethiopia, an hundred twenty and seven provinces, unto every province according to the writing thereof, and unto every people after their language, and to the Jews according to their writing, and according to their language.

NoteSivan is the third month of the Jewish calendar, falling in May or June. Haman's decree had gone out on the thirteenth day of the first month, so about two months and ten days have passed. The "lieutenants" of the King James are satraps, the governors of the empire's largest administrative regions, each of which contained smaller provinces under their own governors and local officials. "Ethiopia" here translates Cush, the region along the Nile south of Egypt, in what is now Sudan and southern Egypt, not the modern country of Ethiopia. "From India to Cush" is a stock phrase for the full east-to-west span of the Persian empire. Each province receiving the order "in its own writing" reflects real Persian administrative practice: decrees were translated into the local languages and scripts of a very mixed empire.

10Mordecai wrote in King Ahasuerus's name, sealed it with the king's signet ring, and sent the letters by couriers on horseback, riding fast horses from the king's own stables.

10And he wrote in the king Ahasuerus’ name, and sealed it with the king’s ring, and sent letters by posts on horseback, and riders on mules, camels, and young dromedaries:

Note"Posts" are couriers of the Persian royal relay service, which kept fresh mounts and riders stationed along the highways so a message could travel continuously. The list of animals in the King James ("mules, camels, and young dromedaries") reflects a genuinely obscure phrase in the Hebrew. The words are rare and their meaning uncertain; most modern translators take the phrase to describe fast horses from the royal studs rather than a string of different animals, but the older reading is not impossible.

11In those letters the king gave the Jews in every city the right to gather together and defend their lives. They could destroy, kill, and wipe out any armed force of any people or province that attacked them, along with the women and children, and take their goods as plunder.

11Wherein the king granted the Jews which were in every city to gather themselves together, and to stand for their life, to destroy, to slay, and to cause to perish, all the power of the people and province that would assault them, both little ones and women, and to take the spoil of them for a prey,

Note"To stand for their life" means to defend themselves, to make a stand for their own survival. The grammar of the rest of the verse is genuinely ambiguous in Hebrew, and translators divide over it. "All the power of the people and province that would assault them, both little ones and women" can be read as permission to kill any attacking force together with the women and children of those attackers (which would mirror, word for word, the terms of Haman's own decree earlier in the book) or as describing the attacking force as one that would come against the Jews' own women and children. The text as it stands supports either reading. "To take the spoil of them for a prey" means to seize the goods of those they fought as plunder, the normal right of a victor in ancient warfare.

12This was to happen on one day in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus: the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar.

12Upon one day in all the provinces of king Ahasuerus, namely, upon the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar.

NoteAdar is the twelfth and last month of the Jewish calendar, falling in February or March. The date was the one Haman's decree had already fixed, so both orders come into force on the same day, about nine months after this second decree is written, giving everyone long notice.

13A copy of what was written was to be issued as law in every province and announced to all the people, so the Jews would be ready on that day to pay back their enemies.

13The copy of the writing for a commandment to be given in every province was published unto all people, and that the Jews should be ready against that day to avenge themselves on their enemies.

Note"Avenge themselves" translates a Hebrew verb covering both revenge and the exacting of legal redress; it can carry the sense of getting justice as well as getting even.

14So the couriers on the royal horses went out in a hurry, pushed along by the king's command. The order was also announced in the fortress city of Shushan.

14So the posts that rode upon mules and camels went out, being hastened and pressed on by the king’s commandment. And the decree was given at Shushan the palace.

Note"Shushan the palace" is the fortified citadel of Susa, a walled royal quarter raised above the ordinary city, containing the palace and government offices. The book distinguishes it throughout from the lower city of Susa where most of the population lived.

15Mordecai left the king's presence wearing royal clothes of blue and white, a large gold crown, and a robe of fine linen and purple. And the city of Shushan shouted and was glad.

15And Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal apparel of blue and white, and with a great crown of gold, and with a garment of fine linen and purple: and the city of Shushan rejoiced and was glad.

NoteBlue and white were the colors of the Persian royal house, and clothing in them was a mark of the king's favor, not a personal taste. Purple cloth was dyed with a costly extract from sea snails and was worn only by the very rich or by officials of high rank; fine linen was likewise a luxury fabric. The "great crown of gold" is not a king's diadem but a large ornamental gold headpiece of the kind a chief minister could wear.

16For the Jews it was a time of light and gladness, joy and honor.

16The Jews had light, and gladness, and joy, and honour.

Note"Light" here is a common Hebrew figure for relief, safety and wellbeing after a dark time, the opposite of the mourning and dread described earlier in the book, rather than physical light.

17In every province and every city, wherever the king's command and order arrived, the Jews had joy and gladness, feasting and a holiday. And many people of the land became Jews, because fear of the Jews had fallen on them.

17And in every province, and in every city, whithersoever the king’s commandment and his decree came, the Jews had joy and gladness, a feast and a good day. And many of the people of the land became Jews; for the fear of the Jews fell upon them.

Note"A good day" translates a Hebrew phrase (yom tov) used for a festival or public holiday; it is still the ordinary Jewish term for a feast day. "Became Jews" renders a Hebrew verb that occurs nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible, and its exact force is disputed. It may mean that these people formally converted and joined the Jewish community, or only that they publicly identified themselves as Jews, or aligned themselves with the Jews, without any change of religion. The following clause (that the fear of the Jews had fallen on them) gives the motive as dread of what was coming, but does not settle how far the change went.