Esther 8:1-8

Esther Saves the Jews

1 On that day King Ahasuerus gave to Queen Esther the house of Haman, ¹the enemy of the Jews. And Mordecai came before the king, for Esther had told ²what he was to her.

2 ³And the king took off his signet ring, which he had taken from Haman, and gave it to Mordecai. And Esther set Mordecai over the house of Haman.

3 Then Esther spoke again to the king. She fell at his feet and wept and pleaded with him to avert the evil plan of Haman ⁴the Agagite and the plot that he had devised against the Jews.

4 ⁵When the king held out the golden scepter to Esther,

5 Esther rose and stood before the king. And she said, "If it please the king, ⁶and if I have found favor in his sight, and if the thing seems right before the king, and I am pleasing in his eyes, let an order be written to revoke ⁷the letters devised by Haman ⁸the Agagite, the son of Hammedatha, which he wrote to destroy the Jews who are in all the provinces of the king.

6 For how can I bear ⁹to see the calamity that is coming to my people? Or how can I bear to see the destruction of my kindred?"

7 Then King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, "Behold, ¹⁰I have given Esther the house of Haman, and they have hanged him on the gallows,^[a] because he intended to lay hands on the Jews.

8 But you may write as you please with regard to the Jews, in the name of the king, ¹¹and seal it with the king's ring, for an edict written in the name of the king and sealed with the king's ring ¹²cannot be revoked."

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Esther 8:1-8 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO ESTHER 8

This chapter relates the gifts Ahasuerus gave to Esther and Mordecai, Es 8:1,2, the suit Esther made to him to reverse the letters for the destruction of the Jews, Es 8:3-6, which, though it could not be formally granted, was in effect done by letters sent to the Jews, giving them power to rise in their own defence, and slay their enemies, Es 8:7-14, the consequence of which, and the advancement of Mordecai, were matter of great joy to the Jews, Es 8:15-17.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 12

1. [See Esther 7:6 above]
2. [Esther 2:7, 15]
3. Esther 3:10
4. Esther 3:1; Esther 9:24
5. Esther 4:11; Esther 5:2
6. Esther 5:8; Esther 7:3
7. [Esther 3:13]
8. [See ver. 3 above]
9. [Esther 7:4]
10. ver. 1
11. ver. 10; Esther 3:12
12. [Esther 1:19; Dan. 6:8, 12, 15]

Footnotes 1

[a]. Or stake

The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.