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Esther 9:13

in Esther 9

Esther replied, “If it pleases the king, may the Jews in Susa also have tomorrow to carry out today’s edict, and may the bodies of Haman’s ten sons be hanged on the gallows.”

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

Then said Esther, If it please the king, let it be granted to the Jews that are in Shushan to do to-morrow also according unto this day’s decree, and let Haman’s ten sons be hanged upon the gallows.

KJV

Then said Esther, If it please the king, let it be granted to the Jews which are in Shushan to do to morrow also according unto this day’s decree, and let Haman’s ten sons be hanged upon the gallows.

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This verse in Esther 9

Commentary

9 notes on this verse

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

Let Haman’s ten sons be hanged - They had been slain the preceding day, and now she requests that they may be exposed on posts or gibbets, as a terror to those who sought the destruction of the Jews.

This site's exposition

the number of those that were slain

on Esther 9:11-14

The count comes to the king, and his open-ended offer to Esther returns a hard request: a second day for Shushan, and Haman's ten sons, already dead, hanged upon the gallows. The public exposure of slain enemies was Persian practice for deterrence, and the readings on the request's severity are named: a queen securing her people against a still-hostile capital, so the commentators generally; the rabbinic Purim readings built on the ten sons are tradition, named as such where a row carries them. The text records the petition without praising or blaming it, and the exposition does the same.

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

This contention of Queen Esther, in which she fights to have her enemies aggressively attacked and wiped out, expresses the zeal and ingenuity of the true queen, that is, of the holy Church which harasses her enemies without respite and struggles to scatter them completely …

The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)

Let it, &c. - To kill their implacable enemies. For it is not improbable that the greatest and worst of them had hidden themselves for that day; after which, the commission granted to the Jews being expired, they confidently returned to their homes.

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.
Then said Esther, if it please the king,....
2 more voices on this verse

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

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.

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

Though it led to so awful a slaughter of seventy-five thousand of their enemies, there is reason to believe that these were chiefly Amalekites, in the fall of whom on this occasion, the prophecies (Ex 17:14, 16;

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How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

And let Haman’s ten sons be hung from a gallows. Those who were slain.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on Esther 9:13:1, via Sefaria, The Metsudah Five Megillot, Lakewood, N.J., 2001
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
The decree was proclaimed. A statute was decreed by the king.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on Esther 9:14:1, 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. 6 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

22 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.

  • וַתֹּ֤אמֶרand she said

    vatomerH559 →5305 times

  • אֶסְתֵּר֙Esther

    ʾesterH635 →55 times

  • אִם־if

    ʾim-H518 →1069 times

  • עַל־[is] on

    ʾal-H5921 →5755 times

  • הַמֶּ֣לֶךְthe king

    hamelekhH4428 →2525 times

  • ט֔וֹבgood

    tovH2896 →538 times

  • יִנָּתֵ֣ןlet it be permitted

    yinatenH5414 →2011 times

  • גַּם־also

    gam-H1571 →769 times

  • מָחָ֗רtomorrow

    macharH4279 →52 times

  • לַיְּהוּדִים֙to the Jews

    laiyehudimH3064 →75 times

  • אֲשֶׁ֣רwho

    ʾasherH834 →5497 times

  • בְּשׁוּשָׁ֔ן[are] in Susa

    beshushanH7800 →21 times

  • לַעֲשׂ֖וֹתto do

    laasotH6213 →2628 times

  • כְּדָ֣תaccording to [the] law of

    kedatH1881 →22 times

  • הַיּ֑וֹםthis day

    haiyomH3117 →2304 times

  • וְאֵ֛תand <obj.>

    veetH853 →10935 times

  • עֲשֶׂ֥רֶת[the] ten

    ʾaseretH6235 →176 times

  • בְּנֵֽי־[the] sons of

    benei-H1121 →4930 times

  • הָמָ֖ןHaman

    hamanH2001 →54 times

  • יִתְל֥וּlet them hang

    yitluH8518 →27 times

  • עַל־on

    ʾal-H5921 →5755 times

  • הָעֵֽץ׃the gallows

    haetzH6086 →328 times

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

Related verses

7 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

Esther 8:11By 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 to them, including women and children, and to plunder their possessions.4 worksDeuteronomy 21:23you must not leave the body on the tree overnight, but you must be sure to bury him that day, because anyone who is hung on a tree is under God’s curse. You must not defile the land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance.3 worksGalatians 3:13Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. For it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.”2 works2 Samuel 21:9And he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them on the hill before the LORD. So all seven of them fell together; they were put to death in the first days of the harvest, at the beginning of the barley harvest.2 works2 Samuel 21:6let seven of his male descendants be delivered to us so that we may hang them before the LORD at Gibeah of Saul, the chosen of the LORD.” “I will give them to you,” said the king.2 worksEsther 9:15On the fourteenth day of the month of Adar, the Jews in Susa came together again and put to death three hundred men there, but they did not lay a hand on the plunder.2 works
The other 1 cross-references, with their words ▾
Esther 9:18The Jews in Susa, however, had assembled on the thirteenth and the fourteenth days of the month. So they rested on the fifteenth day, making it a day of feasting and joy.2 works

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

    Galatians 3:13

    Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. For it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.”

    it leads to

    • 1 Peter 2:24

      He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. “By His stripes you are healed.”

    • Deuteronomy 21:23

      you must not leave the body on the tree overnight, but you must be sure to bury him that day, because anyone who is hung on a tree is under God’s curse. You must…

    • Hebrews 9:12

      He did not enter by the blood of goats and calves, but He entered the Most Holy Place once for all by His own blood, thus securing eternal redemption.

    • Hebrews 9:15

      Therefore Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, now that He has died to redeem them from the transgressions committed under…

    • 1 Peter 1:18–21

      For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life you inherited from your forefathers,

  • Through

    Deuteronomy 21:23

    you must not leave the body on the tree overnight, but you must be sure to bury him that day, because anyone who is hung on a tree is under God’s curse. You must…

    it leads to

    • Galatians 3:13

      Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. For it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.”

    • John 19:31

      It was the day of Preparation, and the next day was a High Sabbath. In order that the bodies would not remain on the cross during the Sabbath, the Jews asked Pilate to have…

  • 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…

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.
Esther: the study guide →Read Esther 9 →
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jamieson Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole 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; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Rabanus Maurus, EXPLANATION ON THE BOOK OF ESTHER 12 and Rabanus Maurus, Commentary on Esther.

Read on in Esther 9 →