Esther 4:12
in Esther 4When Esther’s words were relayed to Mordecai,
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And they told to Mordecai Esther’s words.
KJV
And they told to Mordecai Esther’s words.
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This verse in Esther 4
Commentary
3 notes on this verseThis site's exposition
Then Esther spoke to Hathach
on Esther 4:10-12
The excavated palace at Susa gives the scene a real setting. Esther's last clause is the confession that matters: "I have not been summoned to appear before the king for the past thirty days". The favor that won her the crown at 2:17 may have cooled.
This site's exposition
When Esther’s words were relayed to Mordecai
John Gill names the carriers here as the messengers Esther sent, so the exchange had widened beyond Hathach. Her refusal now stood before Mordecai in full, the law of the inner court and the thirty days. His reply sets her risk against the risk of silence.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
And they told to Mordecai Esther's, words. The messengers she sent to him.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
You had better not fantasize. [I.e.,] “Do not think,” as in, “And it will be, that which I had thought.” 4 Bamidbar:56.
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
5 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיַּגִּ֣ידוּ | vaiyagidu | and they told | H5046 → | 370 times |
| לְמָרְדֳּכָ֔י | lemaredokhai | to Mordecai | H4782 → | 60 times |
| אֵ֖ת | ʾet | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| דִּבְרֵ֥י | divrei | [the] words of | H1697 → | 1440 times |
| אֶסְתֵּֽר׃ פ | ʾester | Esther | H635 → | 55 times |
וַיַּגִּ֣ידוּand they told
vaiyagiduH5046 →370 times
לְמָרְדֳּכָ֔יto Mordecai
lemaredokhaiH4782 →60 times
אֵ֖ת<obj.>
ʾetH853 →10935 times
דִּבְרֵ֥י[the] words of
divreiH1697 →1440 times
אֶסְתֵּֽר׃ פEsther
ʾesterH635 →55 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Esther
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Jamieson Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Keil, The Books of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther.