Esther 8:5
What does Esther 8:5 mean?
A plain-English look at Esther 8:5 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What Esther 8:5 means
Esther speaks with careful respect, piling up courtly phrases to show submission while aiming at a bold outcome. She asks that the letters devised by Haman be reversed—those letters that ordered the destruction of the Jews throughout the empire. By naming Haman fully as “the son of Hammedatha the Agagite,” she identifies the exact source and nature of the plot. Esther’s approach is wise: she seeks not vengeance but the undoing of unjust law. Her request recognizes the breadth of the threat (“all the king’s provinces”) and appeals to the king’s sense of rightness and favor. She frames the issue as moral, legal, and personal all at once.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000And she said, If it please the king, and if I have found favor in his sight, and the thing seem right before the king, and I be pleasing in his eyes, let it be written to reverse the letters devised by Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, which he wrote to destroy the Jews that are in all the king’s provinces:
KJV
King James Version · 1611And said, If it please the king, and if I have found favour in his sight, and the thing seem right before the king, and I be pleasing in his eyes, let it be written to reverse the letters devised by Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, which he wrote to destroy the Jews which are in all the king’s provinces:
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901And she said, If it please the king, and if I have found favor in his sight, and the thing seem right before the king, and I be pleasing in his eyes, let it be written to reverse the letters devised by Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, which he wrote to destroy the Jews that are in all the king’s provinces:
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949And she said, If it is the king's pleasure and if I have his approval and this thing seems right to the king and I am pleasing to him, then let letters be sent giving orders against those which Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, sent out for the destruction of the Jews in all divisions of the kingdom:
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862and saith, `If to the king <FI>it be<Fi> good, and if I have found grace before him, and the thing hath been right before the king, and I <FI>be<Fi> good in his eyes, let it be written to bring back the letters--a device of Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite--that he wrote to destroy the Jews who <FI>are<Fi> in all provinces of the king,
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752And said: If it please the king, and if I have found favour in his sight, and my request be not disagreeable to him, I beseech thee, that the former letters of Aman the traitor and enemy of the Jews, by which he commanded that they should be destroyed in all the king's provinces, may be reversed by new letters.
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890and said, If it please the king and if I have found grace before him, and the thing seem right to the king, and I be pleasing in his sight, let it be written to reverse the letters devised by Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, which he wrote to destroy the Jews that are in all the king's provinces.
Context
Having been received by the king (verse 4), Esther makes her formal petition in verses 5–6. She seeks the reversal of Haman’s genocidal letters. The weight of Persian law hangs over the scene, prompting a solution that fits within royal protocol. The king’s response in verses 7–8 acknowledges previous actions against Haman and authorizes Esther and Mordecai to craft a new decree. This transition shifts the chapter from plea to policy, setting up the administrative machinery that will carry rescue to every province (verses 9–14).
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- Exodus 33:13
Now therefore, I pray thee, if I have found favor in thy sight, show me now thy ways, that I may know thee, to the end that I may find favor in thy sight: and consider that this nation is thy people.
- Esther 3:12
Then were the king’s scribes called in the first month, on the thirteenth day thereof; and there was written according to all that Haman commanded unto the king’s satraps, and to the governors that were over every province, and to the princes of every people, to every province according to the writing thereof, and to every people after their language; in the name of king Ahasuerus was it written, and it was sealed with the king’s ring.
- Esther 7:3
Then Esther the queen answered and said, If I have found favor in thy sight, O king, and if it please the king, let my life be given me at my petition, and my people at my request:
- Exodus 33:16
For wherein now shall it be known that I have found favor in thy sight, I and thy people? is it not in that thou goest with us, so that we are separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth?
- Esther 2:17
And the king loved Esther above all the women, and she obtained favor and kindness in his sight more than all the virgins; so that he set the royal crown upon her head, and made her queen instead of Vashti.
- Esther 5:8
If I have found favor in the sight of the king, and if it please the king to grant my petition, and to perform my request, let the king and Haman come to the banquet that I shall prepare for them, and I will do to-morrow as the king hath said.