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Esther 5:13

in Esther 5

Yet none of this satisfies me as long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king’s gate.”

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

Yet all this availeth me nothing, so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king’s gate.

KJV

Yet all this availeth me nothing, so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king’s gate.

This verse in Esther 5

Commentary

6 notes on this verse

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

Yet all this availeth me nothing - Pride will ever render its possessor unhappy. He has such a high opinion of his own worth, that he conceives himself defrauded by every one who does not pay him all the respect and homage which he conceives to be his due. The soul was made for God, and nothing but God can fill it and make it happy. Angels could not be happy in glory, when they had cast off their allegiance to their Maker.

This site's exposition

Yet none of this satisfies me

Haman sums up his day: "Yet none of this satisfies me as long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king’s gate". Every honor he owns is cancelled by the one man. Wealth, promotion and a queen's favor cannot outweigh one unbending posture at a gate.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

So the king and Haman came to the banquet that Esther had prepared. 6 And the king said unto Esther at the banquet of wine, What is thy petition? and it shall be granted thee: and what is thy request? even to the half of the kingdom it shall be performed. 7 Then answered Esther, and said, My petition and my request is;

quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — verbatim-scripture

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)

proposed

Such torment did his envy and malice bring upon him. Sitting - Enjoying that honour and privilege without disturbance, and denying me the worship due to me by the king's command. Thus tho' proud men have much to their mind, if they have not all to their mind, it is nothing.
Yet all this availeth me nothing,.... Is not equal or sufficient for me; it gives me no satisfaction and contentment: so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king's gate: not rising up to bow unto him; this single circumstance spoiled all his joy and pleasure.

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

He took notice of his own riches and honours, the numerousness of his family, and the high posts to which he was advanced, that he was the darling of the prince and the idol of the court; and yet all this avails him nothing as long as Mordecai is unhanged.

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

[This] is meaningless to me. I do not care for all the honor that I have.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on Esther 5:13:1, via Sefaria, The Metsudah Five Megillot, Lakewood, N.J., 2001

This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.

Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.

The words behind it

16 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וְכָל־and all

    vekholH3605 →5413 times

  • זֶ֕הthis

    zehH2088 →1180 times

  • אֵינֶ֥נּוּnot it

    ʾeinenuH369 →789 times

  • שֹׁוֶ֖ה[is] adequate

    shovehH7737 →21 times

  • לִ֑יfor me

    li

  • בְּכָל־at any

    bekholH3605 →5413 times

  • עֵ֗תtime

    ʾetH6256 →296 times

  • אֲשֶׁ֨רwhen

    ʾasherH834 →5497 times

  • אֲנִ֤יI

    ʾaniH589 →874 times

  • רֹאֶה֙[am] seeing

    roehH7200 →1300 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • מָרְדֳּכַ֣יMordecai

    maredokhaiH4782 →60 times

  • הַיְּהוּדִ֔יthe Jew

    haiyehudiH3064 →75 times

  • יוֹשֵׁ֖בsitting

    yoshevH3427 →1079 times

  • בְּשַׁ֥עַרat [the] gate of

    beshaarH8179 →374 times

  • הַמֶּֽלֶךְ׃the king

    hamelekhH4428 →2525 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Ecclesiastes 1:2

    “Futility of futilities,” says the Teacher, “futility of futilities! Everything is futile!”

    it leads to

    • Psalms 144:4

      Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow.

    • Romans 8:20

      For the creation was subjected to futility, not by its own will, but because of the One who subjected it, in hope

    • Ecclesiastes 5:10

      He who loves money is never satisfied by money, and he who loves wealth is never satisfied by income. This too is futile.

    • Psalms 39:5–6

      You, indeed, have made my days as handbreadths, and my lifetime as nothing before You. Truly each man at his best exists as but a breath. Selah

    • Ecclesiastes 12:8

      “Futility of futilities,” says the Teacher. “Everything is futile!”

  • Through

    Ecclesiastes 1:14

    I have seen all the things that are done under the sun, and have found them all to be futile, a pursuit of the wind.

    it leads to

    • Ecclesiastes 2:11

      Yet when I considered all the works that my hands had accomplished and what I had toiled to achieve, I found everything to be futile, a pursuit of the wind; there was nothing to…

    • Ecclesiastes 2:17

      So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. For everything is futile and a pursuit of the wind.

    • Ecclesiastes 2:26

      To the man who is pleasing in His sight, He gives wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner He assigns the task of gathering and accumulating that which he will hand over…

Where this verse is studied

On this page

About Esther

Esther Before the King — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
Esther Before the King — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Keil, The Books of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.