Esther 9:14
in Esther 9So the king commanded that this be done. An edict was issued in Susa, and they hanged the ten sons of Haman.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And the king commanded it so to be done: and a decree was given out in Shushan; and they hanged Haman’s ten sons.
KJV
And the king commanded it so to be done: and the decree was given at Shushan; and they hanged Haman’s ten sons.
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This verse in Esther 9
Commentary
8 notes on this verseAnd the king commanded it so to be done: and the decree was given at Shushan,.... That the Jews might have leave to seek out and slay the rest of their enemies in Shushan, on the fourteenth day, in like manner as they had on the thirteenth: and they hanged Haman's ten sons; on the same gallows very probably their father was hanged; the Targum gives us the distance between each person hanged thereon.
This site's exposition
On that day the number
on Esther 9:11-14
The count reaches the king, and his offer to Esther brings a request: that "the bodies of Haman’s ten sons be hanged on the gallows". The commentators generally read a queen securing her people in a capital still hostile to them. The text records the request without praise or blame.
This site's exposition
So the king commanded that this be done
A second edict was issued for Susa alone, and the king granted it at once. John Gill thought the ten sons were hanged on the gallows that had held their father. The provinces kept to the single day, Matthew Henry notes.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church2 voices
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 …
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 Awakening2 voices
It is supposed that they were hanged in chains and left hanging for some time. (3.) The Jews in the country kept to their orders, and slew no more of their enemies than what were slain the thirteenth day, which were in all, among all the provinces, 75,000,
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.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
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.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
The decree was proclaimed. A statute was decreed by the king.
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
And let Haman’s ten sons be hung from a gallows. Those who were slain.
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
12 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיֹּ֤אמֶר | vaiyomer | and he said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| הַמֶּ֙לֶךְ֙ | hamelekh | the king | H4428 → | 2525 times |
| לְהֵֽעָשׂ֣וֹת | leheasot | to be done | H6213 → | 2628 times |
| כֵּ֔ן | ken | thus | H3651 → | 771 times |
| וַתִּנָּתֵ֥ן | vatinaten | and it was given | H5414 → | 2011 times |
| דָּ֖ת | dat | [the] law | H1881 → | 22 times |
| בְּשׁוּשָׁ֑ן | beshushan | in Susa | H7800 → | 21 times |
| וְאֵ֛ת | veet | and <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| עֲשֶׂ֥רֶת | ʾaseret | [the] ten | H6235 → | 176 times |
| בְּנֵֽי־ | benei- | [the] sons of | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| הָמָ֖ן | haman | Haman | H2001 → | 54 times |
| תָּלֽוּ׃ | talu | people hanged | H8518 → | 27 times |
וַיֹּ֤אמֶרand he said
vaiyomerH559 →5305 times
הַמֶּ֙לֶךְ֙the king
hamelekhH4428 →2525 times
לְהֵֽעָשׂ֣וֹתto be done
leheasotH6213 →2628 times
כֵּ֔ןthus
kenH3651 →771 times
וַתִּנָּתֵ֥ןand it was given
vatinatenH5414 →2011 times
דָּ֖ת[the] law
datH1881 →22 times
בְּשׁוּשָׁ֑ןin Susa
beshushanH7800 →21 times
וְאֵ֛תand <obj.>
veetH853 →10935 times
עֲשֶׂ֥רֶת[the] ten
ʾaseretH6235 →176 times
בְּנֵֽי־[the] sons of
benei-H1121 →4930 times
הָמָ֖ןHaman
hamanH2001 →54 times
תָּלֽוּ׃people hanged
taluH8518 →27 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
This page draws on 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); 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.