Esther 3:9
in Esther 3If it pleases the king, let a decree be issued to destroy them, and I will deposit ten thousand talents of silver into the royal treasury to pay those who carry it out.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
If it please the king, let it be written that they be destroyed: and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those that have the charge of the king’s business, to bring it into the king’s treasuries.
KJV
If it please the king, let it be written that they may be destroyed: and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver to the hands of those that have the charge of the business, to bring it into the king’s treasuries.
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This verse in Esther 3
Commentary
7 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Ten thousand talents of silver - According to Herodotus, the regular revenue of the Persian king consisted of 14,560 silver talents; so that, if the same talent is intended, Haman’s offer would have exceeded two-thirds of one year’s revenue (or two and one-half million British pound sterling). Another Persian subject, Pythius, once offered to present Xerxes with four millions of gold darics, or about four and one-half pounds.
This site's exposition
Then Haman informed King Xerxes
on Esther 3:8-9
Haman sets out his case: "a certain people scattered and dispersed," who "do not obey the king’s laws". He never names the people, and the king never asks. He offers "ten thousand talents of silver", a sum the commentators count among the largest named in the ancient world.
This site's exposition
If it pleases the king, let a decree
Haman had just told the king these people were no profit, and now he offers to cover the loss their deaths would cause. Clarke and Henry read the silver as the answer to the king’s likely objection, his lost revenue. Barnes puts it above two thirds of a year’s revenue.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
So Haman promised ten thousand talents of silver to the king, and asked for the death of the Jews; and so too the Jewish people, who were dedicated to the fleshly observance of the rites of the Law in the belief that they were pleasing …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
This, he thought, would be a powerful inducement to the king to consent, and would obviate the strongest objection against him, which was that the government must needs sustain loss in its revenues by the destruction of so many of its subjects; so great a sum, he hoped, would be equivalent for that.
If it please the king, let it be written, that they may be destroyed,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
Let it be written that they may be destroyed - Let it be enacted that they may all be put to death. By this he would throw all the odium off himself, and put it on the king and his counsellors; for he wished the thing to pass into a law, in which he could have but a small share of the blame. I will pay ten thousand talents of silver - He had said before that it was not for the king’s profit to suffer them; but here he is obliged to acknowledge that there will be a loss to the revenue, but that loss he is willing to make up out of his own property. Ten thousand talents of silver is an immense sum indeed; which, counted by the Babylonish talent, amounts to two millions one hundred and nineteen thousand pounds sterling; but, reckoned by the Jewish talent, it makes more than double that sum. Those who cavil at the Scriptures would doubtless call this one of the many absurdities which, they say, are so plenteously found in them, supposing it almost impossible for an individual to possess so much wealth. But though they do not believe the Bible, they do not scruple to credit Herodotus, who, lib. […]
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
The king removed his ring. This represents the granting of any great matter that is required of the king; 6 Otherwise why would the king present the ring to Haman who did not ask for it but rather requested to annihilate the Jews.
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
19 Hebrew wordsEvery 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.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אִם־ | ʾim- | if | H518 → | 1069 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | [is] on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| הַמֶּ֣לֶךְ | hamelekh | the king | H4428 → | 2525 times |
| ט֔וֹב | tov | good | H2896 → | 538 times |
| יִכָּתֵ֖ב | yikatev | let it be written | H3789 → | 224 times |
| לְאַבְּדָ֑ם | leabedam | to destroy them | H6 → | 184 times |
| וַעֲשֶׂ֨רֶת | vaaseret | and ten | H6235 → | 176 times |
| אֲלָפִ֜ים | ʾalafim | thousand<s> | H505 → | |
| כִּכַּר־ | kikar- | talent[s] of | H3603 → | |
| כֶּ֗סֶף | kesef | silver | H3701 → | 403 times |
| אֶשְׁקוֹל֙ | ʾeshkol | I will weigh out | H8254 → | |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| יְדֵי֙ | yedei | [the] hands of | H3027 → | 1618 times |
| עֹשֵׂ֣י | ʾosei | [the] doers of | H6213 → | 2628 times |
| הַמְּלָאכָ֔ה | hamelakhah | the work | H4399 → | |
| לְהָבִ֖יא | lehavi' | to bring [it] | H935 → | 2568 times |
| אֶל־ | ʾel- | into | H413 → | 5510 times |
| גִּנְזֵ֥י | ginzei | [the] treasuries of | H1595 → | |
| הַמֶּֽלֶךְ׃ | hamelekh | the king | H4428 → | 2525 times |
אִם־if
ʾim-H518 →1069 times
עַל־[is] on
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
הַמֶּ֣לֶךְthe king
hamelekhH4428 →2525 times
ט֔וֹבgood
tovH2896 →538 times
יִכָּתֵ֖בlet it be written
yikatevH3789 →224 times
לְאַבְּדָ֑םto destroy them
leabedamH6 →184 times
וַעֲשֶׂ֨רֶתand ten
vaaseretH6235 →176 times
אֲלָפִ֜יםthousand<s>
ʾalafimH505 →
כִּכַּר־talent[s] of
kikar-H3603 →
כֶּ֗סֶףsilver
kesefH3701 →403 times
אֶשְׁקוֹל֙I will weigh out
ʾeshkolH8254 →
עַל־on
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
יְדֵי֙[the] hands of
yedeiH3027 →1618 times
עֹשֵׂ֣י[the] doers of
ʾoseiH6213 →2628 times
הַמְּלָאכָ֔הthe work
hamelakhahH4399 →
לְהָבִ֖יאto bring [it]
lehavi'H935 →2568 times
אֶל־into
ʾel-H413 →5510 times
גִּנְזֵ֥י[the] treasuries of
ginzeiH1595 →
הַמֶּֽלֶךְ׃the king
hamelekhH4428 →2525 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach 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
Genesis 23:16Abraham agreed to Ephron’s terms and weighed out for him the price he had named in the hearing of the Hittites: four hundred shekels of silver, according to the standard of the merchants.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 32:9
So I bought the field in Anathoth from my cousin Hanamel, and I weighed out seventeen shekels of silver.
- Zechariah 11:12
Then I told them, “If it seems right to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them.” So they weighed out my wages, thirty pieces of silver.
- Matthew 7:12
In everything, then, do to others as you would have them do to you. For this is the essence of the Law and the Prophets.
- 1 Thessalonians 4:6
and no one should ever violate or exploit his brother in this regard, because the Lord will avenge all such acts, as we have already told you and solemnly warned you.
- Job 28:15
It cannot be bought with gold, nor can its price be weighed out in silver.
- Jeremiah 32:9
Through
Matthew 18:24As he began the settlements, a debtor was brought to him owing ten thousand talents.
it leads to
- Psalms 130:3–4
If You, O LORD, kept track of iniquities, then who, O Lord, could stand?
- Psalms 38:4
For my iniquities have overwhelmed me; they are a burden too heavy to bear.
- Luke 13:4
Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam collapsed on them: Do you think that they were more sinful than all the others living in Jerusalem?
- Psalms 130:3–4
Where this verse is studied
About Esther
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Keil, The Books of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Rabanus Maurus, Commentary on Esther.