Esther 6:4
What does Esther 6:4 mean?
A plain-English look at Esther 6:4 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What Esther 6:4 means
The king seeks immediate counsel—“Who is in the court?”—revealing his impulse to act at once. Providence arranges that Haman is already in the outer court, arriving early to request permission to hang Mordecai on the gallows he built. The juxtaposition is striking: the king wants to honor the man Haman wants to kill. Haman’s eagerness displays his hardened malice; he can scarcely wait for morning to end before securing Mordecai’s death. Yet his timing will undo him. The verse captures the collision of intentions: a sovereign intent on rewarding loyalty and a courtier bent on vengeance, both converging at the same doorway.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000And the king said, Who is in the court? Now Haman was come into the outward court of the king’s house, to speak unto the king to hang Mordecai on the gallows that he had prepared for him.
KJV
King James Version · 1611And the king said, Who is in the court? Now Haman was come into the outward court of the king’s house, to speak unto the king to hang Mordecai on the gallows that he had prepared for him.
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901And the king said, Who is in the court? Now Haman was come into the outward court of the king’s house, to speak unto the king to hang Mordecai on the gallows that he had prepared for him.
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949Then the king said, Who is in the outer room? Now Haman had come into the outer room to get the king's authority for the hanging of Mordecai on the pillar which he had made ready for him.
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862And the king saith, `Who <FI>is<Fi> in the court?' --and Haman hath come in to the outer court of the house of the king, to say to the king to hang Mordecai on the tree that he had prepared for him--
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752And the king said immediately: Who is in the court? for Aman was coming in to the inner court of the king's house, to speak to the king, that he might order Mardochai to be hanged upon the gibbet, which was prepared for him.
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890And the king said, Who is in the court? Now Haman had come into the outward court of the king's house, to speak to the king to hang Mordecai on the gallows that he had prepared for him.
Context
Up to now, the king has remembered an unrequited service and decided to correct it. He now looks for a counselor, and Haman steps forward, uninvited by name but conveniently present. The reader is prepared for irony: the one plotting Mordecai’s death will be tasked in the opposite direction. The next verses will reveal the king’s question and Haman’s self-serving assumption, which together craft the perfect reversal.
v.3And the king said, What honor and dignity hath been bestowed on Mordecai for this? Then said the king’s servants that ministered unto him, There is nothing done for him.
v.4This passage
v.5And the king’s servants said unto him, Behold, Haman standeth in the court. And the king said, Let him come in.
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- Esther 5:14
Then said Zeresh his wife and all his friends unto him, Let a gallows be made fifty cubits high, and in the morning speak thou unto the king that Mordecai may be hanged thereon: then go thou in merrily with the king unto the banquet. And the thing pleased Haman; and he caused the gallows to be made.
- Ecclesiastes 9:10
Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in Sheol, whither thou goest.
- Psalms 2:4
He that sitteth in the heavens will laugh: The Lord will have them in derision.
- Esther 4:11
All the king’s servants, and the people of the king’s provinces, do know, that whosoever, whether man or woman, shall come unto the king into the inner court, who is not called, there is one law for him, that he be put to death, except those to whom the king shall hold out the golden sceptre, that he may live: but I have not been called to come in unto the king these thirty days.
- Esther 3:8
And 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.
- Proverbs 3:27
Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, When it is in the power of thy hand to do it.