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Esther 9:30

in Esther 9

And Mordecai sent letters with words of peace and truth to all the Jews in the 127 provinces of the kingdom of Xerxes,

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And he sent letters unto all the Jews, to the hundred twenty and seven provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, with words of peace and truth,

KJV

And he sent the letters unto all the Jews, to the hundred twenty and seven provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, with words of peace and truth,

This verse in Esther 9

Commentary

5 notes on this verse

This site's exposition

So Queen Esther daughter of Abihail

on Esther 9:29-32

Esther writes "with full authority to confirm this second letter concerning Purim," the orphan of 2:7 now giving law to the Jews of an empire. Mordecai's letters carry "words of peace and truth". The confirmation also fixes "the times of fasting and lamentation," so the feast keeps its fast.

This site's exposition

And Mordecai sent letters with words

Matthew Henry reads words of peace and truth as the tone of the letter. Esther and Mordecai wrote with authority and still wrote gently, as the council at Jerusalem did in Acts 15:29. The letters reached all 127 provinces.

The record, by era

The Medieval Church1 voice

A commentator

Rabanus Maurus

Commentary on Esther · Written before 856.

proposed

For we require this admonition so that we will have always in our hearts the peace of Christianity, and will adopt the truth of the Gospel itself; which will prevent us from inadvertently falling, through discord and disagreement, into the errors of the heretics from …

The Puritans and the Awakening2 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

And he sent letters unto all the Jews,....

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

15 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.

  • וַיִּשְׁלַ֨חand he sent

    vaiyishlachH7971 →845 times

  • סְפָרִ֜יםletters

    sefarimH5612 →186 times

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H413 →5510 times

  • כָּל־all

    kol-H3605 →5413 times

  • הַיְּהוּדִ֗יםthe Jews

    haiyehudimH3064 →75 times

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H413 →5510 times

  • שֶׁ֨בַעseven

    sheva'H7651 →394 times

  • וְעֶשְׂרִ֤יםand twenty

    veesrimH6242 →315 times

  • וּמֵאָה֙and one hundred

    umeahH3967 →581 times

  • מְדִינָ֔הprovince[s]

    medinahH4082 →53 times

  • מַלְכ֖וּת[the] kingdom of

    malkhutH4438 →91 times

  • אֲחַשְׁוֵר֑וֹשׁAhasuerus

    ʾachashverooshH325 →31 times

  • דִּבְרֵ֥יwords of

    divreiH1697 →1440 times

  • שָׁל֖וֹםpeace

    shalomH7965 →236 times

  • וֶאֱמֶֽת׃and truth

    veemetH571 →

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

The walk

8 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 8:9

    At once the royal scribes were summoned, and on the twenty-third day of the third month (the month of Sivan), they recorded all of Mordecai’s orders to the Jews and to the satraps, governors,…

    it leads to

    • Esther 1:22

      He sent letters to all the provinces of the kingdom, to each province in its own script and to each people in their own language, proclaiming that every man should be master of his…

    • Esther 1:1

      This is what happened in the days of Xerxes, who reigned over 127 provinces from India to Cush.

  • Through

    Zechariah 8:19

    “This is what the LORD of Hosts says: The fasts of the fourth, the fifth, the seventh, and the tenth months will become times of joy and gladness, cheerful feasts for the house of…

    it leads to

    • Zechariah 8:16

      These are the things you must do: Speak truth to one another, render true and sound judgments in your gates,

    • Jeremiah 39:2

      And on the ninth day of the fourth month of Zedekiah’s eleventh year, the city was breached.

    • Zechariah 7:5

      “Ask all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for these seventy years, was it really for Me that you fasted?

    • Zechariah 7:3

      by asking the priests of the house of the LORD of Hosts, as well as the prophets, “Should I weep and fast in the fifth month, as I have done these many years?”

  • Through

    Isaiah 39:8

    But Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the LORD that you have spoken is good.” For he thought, “At least there will be peace and security in my lifetime.”

    it leads to

    • 2 Chronicles 32:26

      Then Hezekiah humbled the pride of his heart—he and the people of Jerusalem—so that the wrath of the LORD did not come upon them during the days of Hezekiah.

  • Through

    Esther 1:1

    This is what happened in the days of Xerxes, who reigned over 127 provinces from India to Cush.

    it leads to

    • Daniel 9:1

      In the first year of Darius son of Xerxes, a Mede by descent, who was made ruler over the kingdom of the Chaldeans—

Where this verse is studied

About Esther

This page draws on 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, Commentary on Esther and W. F. Adeney, Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther (Expositor's Bible).