Esther 7:3
in Esther 7Queen Esther replied, “If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it pleases the king, grant me my life as my petition, and the lives of my people as my request.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Then Esther the queen answered and said, If I have found favor in thy sight, O king, and if it please the king, let my life be given me at my petition, and my people at my request:
KJV
Then Esther the queen answered and said, If I have found favour in thy sight, O king, and if it please the king, let my life be given me at my petition, and my people at my request:
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This verse in Esther 7
Commentary
5 notes on this verseLet my life be given me - This was very artfully, as well as very honestly, managed; and was highly calculated to work on the feelings of the king. What! is the life of the queen, whom I most tenderly love, in any kind of danger?
This site's exposition
grant me my life
on Esther 7:3-4
Esther names the price Haman set at 3:9: "my people and I have been sold out to destruction, death, and annihilation," his exact bargain. Her aside, that mere slavery she would have borne in silence, marks how far past ordinary loss the decree reaches.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Whatever had been paid for us, the loss of so many industrious hands out of his kingdom would have been more damage to the treasury than the price would countervail." To persecute good people is as impolitic as it is impious, and a manifest wrong to the interests of princes and states; they are weakened and impoverished by it.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — odd-straight-quotes
My life - It is my only request, that thou wouldst not give me up to the malice of that man who designs to take away my life. Even a stranger, a criminal, shall be permitted to petition for his life. But that a friend, a wife, a queen, should have occasion to make such a petition, was very affecting.
Then Esther the queen answered and said,....
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
Let my life be granted me. That I should not be slain on the thirteenth of Adar, for you have issued an edict of massacre upon my people and my heritage.
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
For the oppressor has no regard for losses incurred by his majesty.
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. 2 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַתַּ֨עַן | vataan | and she answered | H6030 → | |
| אֶסְתֵּ֤ר | ʾester | Esther | H635 → | 55 times |
| הַמַּלְכָּה֙ | hamalkah | the queen | H4436 → | 35 times |
| וַתֹּאמַ֔ר | vatomar | and she said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| אִם־ | ʾim- | if | H518 → | 1069 times |
| מָצָ֨אתִי | matzati | I have found | H4672 → | 455 times |
| חֵ֤ן | chen | favor | H2580 → | 69 times |
| בְּעֵינֶ֙יךָ֙ | beeineikha | in view your | H5869 → | 887 times |
| הַמֶּ֔לֶךְ | hamelekh | O king | H4428 → | 2525 times |
| וְאִם־ | veim- | and if | H518 → | 1069 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | [is] on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| הַמֶּ֖לֶךְ | hamelekh | the king | H4428 → | 2525 times |
| ט֑וֹב | tov | good | H2896 → | 538 times |
| תִּנָּֽתֶן־ | tinaten- | let it be given | H5414 → | 2011 times |
| לִ֤י | li | to me | ||
| נַפְשִׁי֙ | nafshi | life my | H5315 → | 754 times |
| בִּשְׁאֵ֣לָתִ֔י | bishelati | for petition my | H7596 → | 14 times |
| וְעַמִּ֖י | veami | and people my | H5971 → | 1873 times |
| בְּבַקָּשָׁתִֽי׃ | bevakashati | for request my | H1246 → | 8 times |
וַתַּ֨עַןand she answered
vataanH6030 →
אֶסְתֵּ֤רEsther
ʾesterH635 →55 times
הַמַּלְכָּה֙the queen
hamalkahH4436 →35 times
וַתֹּאמַ֔רand she said
vatomarH559 →5305 times
אִם־if
ʾim-H518 →1069 times
מָצָ֨אתִיI have found
matzatiH4672 →455 times
חֵ֤ןfavor
chenH2580 →69 times
בְּעֵינֶ֙יךָ֙in view your
beeineikhaH5869 →887 times
הַמֶּ֔לֶךְO king
hamelekhH4428 →2525 times
וְאִם־and if
veim-H518 →1069 times
עַל־[is] on
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
הַמֶּ֖לֶךְthe king
hamelekhH4428 →2525 times
ט֑וֹבgood
tovH2896 →538 times
תִּנָּֽתֶן־let it be given
tinaten-H5414 →2011 times
לִ֤יto me
li
נַפְשִׁי֙life my
nafshiH5315 →754 times
בִּשְׁאֵ֣לָתִ֔יfor petition my
bishelatiH7596 →14 times
וְעַמִּ֖יand people my
veamiH5971 →1873 times
בְּבַקָּשָׁתִֽי׃for request my
bevakashatiH1246 →8 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
Job 2:4“Skin for skin!” Satan replied. “A man will give up all he owns in exchange for his life.
it leads to
- Philippians 3:8–10
More than that, I count all things as loss compared to the surpassing excellence of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may…
- Matthew 6:25
Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more…
- Matthew 16:26
What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?
- Jeremiah 41:8
But ten of the men among them said to Ishmael, “Do not kill us, for we have hidden treasure in the field—wheat, barley, oil, and honey!” So he refrained from killing them with the…
- Esther 7:3–4
Queen Esther replied, “If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it pleases the king, grant me my life as my petition, and the lives of my people as my…
- Philippians 3:8–10
Through
Jeremiah 38:26then tell them, ‘I was presenting to the king my petition that he not return me to the house of Jonathan to die there.’”
it leads to
- Jeremiah 37:20
But now please listen, O my lord the king. May my petition come before you. Do not send me back to the house of Jonathan the scribe, or I will die there.”
- Jeremiah 37:15
The officials were angry with Jeremiah, and they beat him and placed him in jail in the house of Jonathan the scribe, for it had been made into a prison.
- Jeremiah 37:20
Through
Esther 7:7In his fury, the king arose from drinking his wine and went to the palace garden, while Haman stayed behind to beg Queen Esther for his life, for he realized that the king was…
it leads to
- Esther 1:12
Queen Vashti, however, refused to come at the king’s command brought by his eunuchs. And the king became furious, and his anger burned within him.
- Esther 1:12
Where this verse is studied
About Esther
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jamieson Fausset and 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 and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.