Esther 7:3

3 Then Esther, the queen, answered and said, If I have found grace in thy sight, O king and if it pleases the king, let my life be given me at my petition and my people at my request.

Esther 7:3 Meaning and Commentary

Esther 7:3

Then Esther the queen answered and said
Not rolling herself at the king's knees, as Severus ^F6 writes; but rather, as the former Targum, lifting up her eyes to heaven, and perhaps putting up a secret ejaculation for direction and success:

if I have found favour in thy sight, O king;
as she certainly had heretofore, and even now:

and if it please the king, let my life be given me at my petition;
not riches, nor honour, nor any place or post at court, or in any of the king's dominions for any friend of her's, was her petition; but for her own life, that that might not be taken away, which was included in the grant the king had made to Haman, though ignorantly, to slay all the Jews, she being one of them:

and my people at my request;
that is, the lives of her people also, that was her request; her own life and her people's were all she had to ask.

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FOOTNOTES:

F6 Hist. Sacr. l. 2.

Esther 7:3 In-Context

1 So the king and Haman came to the banquet with Esther, the queen.

2 And the king said again unto Esther on the second day at the banquet of wine, What is thy petition, Queen Esther? And it shall be granted thee. What is thy request? And it shall be performed, even to the half of the kingdom.

3 Then Esther, the queen, answered and said, If I have found grace in thy sight, O king and if it pleases the king, let my life be given me at my petition and my people at my request.

4 For we are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish. If we had been sold for menslaves and womenslaves, I would remain silent, even though the enemy could not recompense the damage to the king.

5 And King Ahasuerus answered and said unto Esther, the queen, Who is he, and where is he, that has filled his heart with the arrogance to do so?