Esther 3:9
What does Esther 3:9 mean?
A plain-English look at Esther 3:9 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What Esther 3:9 means
Haman proposes a written decree for destruction and promises ten thousand talents of silver for the king’s business and treasury. The sum is immense, suggesting either personal wealth, anticipated plunder, or both. He seeks to turn prejudice into policy, and murder into a revenue stream. By couching his request in administrative terms—“let it be written”—and financial benefit, Haman makes atrocity look like governance. The request also reveals the calculated nature of evil: it is not spontaneous rage now, but planned, financed, and bureaucratized. The appeal to the royal purse indicates how greed and power often converge to justify oppression.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000If it please the king, let it be written that they be destroyed: and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those that have the charge of the king’s business, to bring it into the king’s treasuries.
KJV
King James Version · 1611If it please the king, let it be written that they may be destroyed: and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver to the hands of those that have the charge of the business, to bring it into the king’s treasuries.
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901If it please the king, let it be written that they be destroyed: and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those that have the charge of the king’s business, to bring it into the king’s treasuries.
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949If it is the king's pleasure, let a statement ordering their destruction be put in writing: and I will give to those responsible for the king's business, ten thousand talents of silver for the king's store-house.
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862if to the king <FI>it be<Fi> good, let it be written to destroy them, and ten thousand talents of silver I weigh into the hands of those doing the work, to bring <FI>it<Fi> in unto the treasuries of the king.'
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752If it please thee, decree that they may be destroyed, and I will pay ten thousand talents to thy treasurers.
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890If it please the king, let it be written that they may be destroyed, and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those that have charge of the affairs, to bring [it] into the king's treasuries.
Context
After maligning the Jews as unprofitable to the empire (v. 8), Haman offers a concrete incentive to win the king’s consent. The following verses (10–11) show Ahasuerus granting Haman authority by giving his ring and effectively handing over both the proposed silver and the targeted people. This sets in motion the official drafting and dissemination of the decree across the empire (vv. 12–14).
v.8And Haman said unto king Ahasuerus, There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of thy kingdom; and their laws are diverse from those of every people; neither keep they the king’s laws: therefore it is not for the king’s profit to suffer them.
v.9This passage
v.10And the king took his ring from his hand, and gave it unto Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the Jews’ enemy.
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- Matthew 18:24
And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, that owed him ten thousand talents.
- Genesis 23:16
And Abraham hearkened unto Ephron; and Abraham weighed to Ephron the silver which he had named in the audience of the children of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, current money with the merchant.