Esther 1:8
What does Esther 1:8 mean?
A plain-English look at Esther 1:8 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What Esther 1:8 means
A distinctive rule governs the drinking: no compulsion. Each person could drink as he pleased, and palace officials were instructed to accommodate every man’s desire. This policy paints the feast as permissive and self-indulgent. While seemingly gracious, it places no brakes on excess. In a court that exists to magnify royal honor, pleasure now takes center stage, and with it the risks that pleasure brings. The verse subtly warns that when boundaries are loosened, dignity can be quickly endangered. The setting is primed for a collision between unrestrained festivity and the protocols that normally protect royal image and domestic order.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000And the drinking was according to the law; none could compel: for so the king had appointed to all the officers of his house, that they should do according to every man’s pleasure.
KJV
King James Version · 1611And the drinking was according to the law; none did compel: for so the king had appointed to all the officers of his house, that they should do according to every man’s pleasure.
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901And the drinking was according to the law; none could compel: for so the king had appointed to all the officers of his house, that they should do according to every man’s pleasure.
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949And the drinking was in keeping with the law; no one was forced: for the king had given orders to all the chief servants of his house to do as was pleasing to every man.
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862And the drinking <FI>is<Fi> according to law, none is pressing, for so hath the king appointed for every chief one of his house, to do according to the pleasure of man and man.
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752Neither was there any one to compel them to drink that were not willing, but as the king had appointed, who set over every table one of his nobles, that every man might take what he would.
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890And the drinking was, according to commandment, without constraint; for so the king had appointed to all the magnates of his house, that they should do according to every man's pleasure.
Context
This final detail about the feast’s drinking customs completes the portrait of an environment favoring indulgence over restraint. The reader will immediately see its consequence when, on the seventh day, the king acts under the influence of wine. Next, we will be told of the queen’s separate feast, then of the king’s merry heart and his summons for Vashti. Understanding the permissive atmosphere helps explain both the king’s impulsive command and the gravity of the queen’s response.
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- Jeremiah 51:7
Babylon hath been a golden cup in Jehovah’s hand, that made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunk of her wine; therefore the nations are mad.
- Habakkuk 2:15
Woe unto him that giveth his neighbor drink, to thee that addest thy venom, and makest him drunken also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness!
- Jeremiah 35:8
And we have obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, in all that he charged us, to drink no wine all our days, we, our wives, our sons, or our daughters;