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Esther 9:10

in Esther 9

They killed these ten sons of Haman son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews, but they did not lay a hand on the plunder.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV

ASV

the ten sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Jews’ enemy, slew they; but on the spoil they laid not their hand.

KJV

The ten sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews, slew they; but on the spoil laid they not their hand.

This verse in Esther 9

Commentary

8 notes on this verse

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

The ten sons of Haman - Their names are given above. And it is remarked here, and in Est 9:16, where the account is given of the number slain in the provinces, that the Jews laid no hands on the spoil. They stood for their lives, and gave full proof that they sought their own personal safety, and not the property of their enemies, though the decree in their favor gave them authority to take the property of all those who were their adversaries, Est 8:11.

This site's exposition

with the stroke of the sword

on Esther 9:5-10

The defense authorized at 8:11 is executed: five hundred in Shushan the palace, and the ten sons of Haman the Agagite slain and named one by one, the enemy's house ended in a list. Then the clause the chapter will repeat three times in varying words: BUT ON THE SPOIL LAID THEY NOT THEIR HAND. Saul lost the kingdom flying upon the spoil of Amalek at 1 Sam 15:19; the generation of Kish's house that refuses the plunder three times over finishes the war he forfeited, and the narrator trusts the reader to hear it.

The record, by era

The Medieval Church2 voices

A commentator

Rabanus Maurus

EXPLANATION ON THE BOOK OF ESTHER 12 · Written before 856.

proposed

Queen Esther's endeavor to successfully crush her enemies and root them out reveals the eagerness and zeal of a true queen, namely, of the holy church that constantly fights against her enemies and strives to defeat them completely and subdue them. And it is her …

A commentator

Rabanus Maurus

Commentary on Esther · Written before 856.

proposed

What can it mean when we read that the Jews pursued their enemies and killed five hundred men in Shushan, except for the ten sons of Haman whom they nailed to gibbets? Merely that to the people of God, it is not only all the …

The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)

But, &c. - Because they would leave it to their children, that it might appear what they did was not done out of malice, or covetousness, but out of mere necessity, and by that great law of self-preservation.

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

The Chaldee paraphrase says that, when these ten were slain, Zeresh, with seventy more of his children, escaped, and afterwards begged their bread from door to door.

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

But their humanity forbade them to do that, though that was designed against them. They slew none but those they found in arms; and therefore they did not take the spoil, but left it to the women and little ones, whom they spared, for their subsistence; otherwise as good slay them as starve them, take away their lives as take away their livelihoods.
1 more voice on this verse

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

Thus the Jews smote all their enemies--The effect of the two antagonistic decrees was, in the meantime, to raise a fierce and bloody war between the Jews and their enemies throughout the Persian empire; but through the dread of Esther and Mordecai, the provincial governors universally favored their cause, so that their enemies fell in great numbers.

The words behind it

13 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.

  • עֲ֠שֶׂרֶת[the] ten

    ʾaseretH6235176 times

  • בְּנֵ֨י[the] sons of

    beneiH11214930 times

  • הָמָ֧ןHaman

    hamanH200154 times

  • בֶּֽן־[the] son of

    ben-H11214930 times

  • הַמְּדָ֛תָאHammedatha

    hamedata'H40995 times

  • צֹרֵ֥ר[the] opposer of

    tzorerH688754 times

  • הַיְּהוּדִ֖יםthe Jews

    haiyehudimH306475 times

  • הָרָ֑גוּthey killed

    haraguH2026167 times

  • וּבַ֨בִּזָּ֔הand on the plunder

    uvabbizahH96110 times

  • לֹ֥אnot

    lo'H38085168 times

  • שָׁלְח֖וּthey stretched out

    shalechuH7971845 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H85310935 times

  • יָדָֽם׃hand their

    yadamH30271618 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

    Esther 8:11

    By these letters the king permitted the Jews in each and every city the right to assemble and defend themselves, to destroy, kill, and annihilate all the forces of any people or province hostile…

    it leads to

    • Esther 3:13

      And the letters were sent by couriers to each of the royal provinces with the order to destroy, kill, and annihilate all the Jews—young and old, women and children—and to plunder their possessions on…

    • Psalms 37:14–15

      The wicked have drawn the sword and bent the bow to bring down the poor and needy, to slay those whose ways are upright.

    • Psalms 146:6–9

      the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them. He remains faithful forever.

    • Ezekiel 39:10

      They will not gather wood from the countryside or cut it from the forests, for they will use the weapons for fuel. They will loot those who looted them and plunder those who plundered…

    • Esther 9:2–16

      In each of the provinces of King Xerxes, the Jews assembled in their cities to attack those who sought to harm them. No man could withstand them, because the fear of them had fallen…

  • Through

    Genesis 14:23

    that I will not accept even a thread, or a strap of a sandal, or anything that belongs to you, lest you should say, ‘I have made Abram rich.’

    it leads to

    • 2 Kings 5:16

      But Elisha replied, “As surely as the LORD lives, before whom I stand, I will not accept it.” And although Naaman urged him to accept it, he refused.

  • Through

    Esther 5:11

    Haman recounted to them his glorious wealth, his many sons, and all the ways the king had honored and promoted him over the other officials and servants.

    it leads to

    • Esther 9:7–10

      including Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha,

    • Esther 3:1

      After these events, King Xerxes honored Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, elevating him to a position above all the princes who were with him.

Where this verse is studied

About Esther

Esther Before the King, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Esther Before the King, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Keil, The Books of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Rabanus Maurus, EXPLANATION ON THE BOOK OF ESTHER 12; Rabanus Maurus, Commentary on Esther and W. F. Adeney, Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther (Expositor's Bible).