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Esther 9:24

in Esther 9

For Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had plotted against the Jews to destroy them and had cast the Pur (that is, the lot) to crush and destroy them.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV

ASV

because Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had plotted against the Jews to destroy them, and had cast Pur, that is the lot, to consume them, and to destroy them;

KJV

Because Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had devised against the Jews to destroy them, and had cast Pur, that is, the lot, to consume them, and to destroy them;

This verse in Esther 9

Commentary

6 notes on this verse

A commentator

Rabanus Maurus

EXPLANATION ON THE BOOK OF ESTHER 13 · Written before 856.

Very often people's evil schemes turn out differently than they had hoped and the trap they had placed to capture others ensnares them, as the Scripture confirms, "The wicked are ensnared in their traps. And whoever digs a pit will fall into it." Therefore also …

This site's exposition

had cast Pur, that is, the lot

on Esther 9:24-28

The recap names the feast: Haman cast Pur, the lot, to consume them, and the days are called PURIM after the very instrument of the plot, chance enthroned as a calendar of deliverance, the mockery built into the name itself. The ordinance binds their seed and all such as joined themselves unto them, the proselyte door open in the feast's own charter, and 9:28 reaches as far as any verse in the book: these days should not fail from among the Jews, nor the memorial of them perish from their seed. It has not; Purim is kept to this day with this book read aloud, and the page says so under the site's honoring rule.

The record, by era

The Medieval Church1 voice

A commentator

Rabanus Maurus

Commentary on Esther · Written before 856.

proposed

For wicked men often find that their desires are fulfilled in ways they had not expected to happen; and they are caught in the same traps they set to ensnare others, as the Scripture shows when it says: "The wicked are caught in their traps; …

The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

12 And the king said unto Esther the queen, The Jews have slain and destroyed five hundred men in Shushan the palace, and the ten sons of Haman; what have they done in the rest of the king's provinces? now what is thy petition? and it shall be granted thee: or what is thy request further? and it shall be done.

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

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

): Because he had devised against the Jews to destroy them. Let this be kept in mind, that God's people may never be secure, while they have such malicious enemies, on whom they ought to have a jealous eye. Their enemies aim at no less then their destruction; on God therefore let them depend for salvation.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens

Because Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had devised against the Jews to destroy them,....

How the passage was read

On Esther 9:20-32

On Esther 9:20-32

The feast this book founds

These verses are the founding charter of Purim, the one feast instituted inside the canon's own narrative books. Its name comes from the “pur,” the lot Haman cast for Israel's destruction. The text itself names the three practices that still define the day: feasting and gladness, sending portions of food to one another, and gifts to the poor (9:22). To this day the whole book of Esther, called the Megillah (“scroll”), is read aloud in the synagogue, with the congregation drowning out Haman's name with noisemakers; the day is kept with costumes, feasting, food baskets to friends, and charity.

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.

Sources: Mishnah Megillah 1:1 (the scroll reading) · Esther 9:22 (the three practices, in the text itself)

The words behind it

18 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.

  • כִּי֩for

    kiH35884482 times

  • הָמָ֨ןHaman

    hamanH200154 times

  • בֶּֽן־[the] son of

    ben-H11214930 times

  • הַמְּדָ֜תָאHammedatha

    hamedata'H40995 times

  • הָֽאֲגָגִ֗יthe Agagite

    haagagiH915 times

  • צֹרֵר֙[the] opposer of

    tzorerH688754 times

  • כָּל־all

    kol-H36055413 times

  • הַיְּהוּדִ֔יםthe Jews

    haiyehudimH306475 times

  • חָשַׁ֥בhe had planned

    chashavH2803124 times

  • עַל־on

    ʾal-H59215755 times

  • הַיְּהוּדִ֖יםthe Jews

    haiyehudimH306475 times

  • לְאַבְּדָ֑םto destroy them

    leabedamH6184 times

  • וְהִפִּ֥ילand he had cast

    vehipilH5307435 times

  • פּוּר֙Pur

    purH63328 times

  • ה֣וּאthat

    hu'H19311879 times

  • הַגּוֹרָ֔ל[is] the lot

    hagoralH148678 times

  • לְהֻמָּ֖םto trouble them

    lehumamH2000

  • וּֽלְאַבְּדָֽם׃and to destroy them

    uleabedamH6184 times

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

The walk

5 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 9:10

    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.

    it leads to

    • 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…

    • 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.

    • 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.’

    • Job 27:13–15

      This is the wicked man’s portion from God—the heritage the ruthless receive from the Almighty.

    • Job 18:18–19

      He is driven from light into darkness and is chased from the inhabited world.

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 Alfred Edersheim, Bible History: Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Keil, The Books of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Rabanus Maurus, EXPLANATION ON THE BOOK OF ESTHER 13 and Rabanus Maurus, Commentary on Esther.