Esther 7:3

3 Then Ester HaMalkah answered and said, If I have found chen (favor) in thy sight, O HaMelech, and if it is tov to HaMelech, let nafshi (my life) be given me at my she’elah (petition), and my Am at my bakash (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 HaMelech and Haman came to banquet with Ester HaMalkah.

2 And HaMelech said again unto Ester on the yom hasheni (second day) at the mishteh hayayin (feast), What is thy she’elah (petition), Ester HaMalkah? And it shall be granted thee; and what is thy bakash (request)? And it shall be performed, even to chatzi HaMalchut.

3 Then Ester HaMalkah answered and said, If I have found chen (favor) in thy sight, O HaMelech, and if it is tov to HaMelech, let nafshi (my life) be given me at my she’elah (petition), and my Am at my bakash (request);

4 For we are sold, Ani (I) and Ami (my People), to be made shmad, to be slain, and to be annihilated. But if we had been sold for avadim and shfakhot, I would have held my tongue, since then the tzoros would not have been such as to injure the interests of HaMelech.

5 Then HaMelech Achashverosh answered and said unto Ester HaMalkah, Who is he, and where is he, who dares to presume in his lev to do such?