Esther 8:6
What does Esther 8:6 mean?
A plain-English look at Esther 8:6 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What Esther 8:6 means
Esther lays bare her heart: she cannot endure to watch evil fall on her people or see her kindred destroyed. Her argument is not political advantage but shared identity and compassion. She speaks as a queen and as a Jew, binding her fate to theirs. It is a powerful appeal because it is personal and moral—rooted in love for her people rather than in fear for herself. Such honesty strengthens her request, revealing that justice requires more than punishing one offender; it must also protect the innocent. Esther embodies true intercession, standing in the gap so that the decree of death will not swallow those she calls “my people.”
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000for how can I endure to see the evil that shall come unto my people? or how can I endure to see the destruction of my kindred?
KJV
King James Version · 1611For how can I endure to see the evil that shall come unto my people? or how can I endure to see the destruction of my kindred?
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901for how can I endure to see the evil that shall come unto my people? or how can I endure to see the destruction of my kindred?
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949For how is it possible for me to see the evil which is to overtake my nation? how may I see the destruction of my people?
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862for how do I endure when I have looked on the evil that doth find my people? and how do I endure when I have looked on the destruction of my kindred?'
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752For how can I endure the murdering and slaughter of my people?
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890For how shall I endure to see the evil that shall befall my people? and how shall I endure to see the destruction of my kindred?
Context
Verse 6 completes Esther’s plea begun in verse 5, giving the emotional core. With that on the table, the narrative turns to the king’s reply in verses 7–8. He notes Haman’s punishment and the transfer of his house, then authorizes a countermeasure that fits the unalterable nature of Persian decrees. The scene will swiftly move from royal permission to administrative action, as scribes, translations, couriers, and dates are set to carry the lifesaving message across the empire (verses 9–14).
v.5And 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:
v.6This passage
v.7Then the king Ahasuerus said unto Esther the queen and to Mordecai the Jew, Behold, I have given Esther the house of Haman, and him they have hanged upon the gallows, because he laid his hand upon the Jews.
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- Romans 10:1
Brethren, my heart’s desire and my supplication to God is for them, that they may be saved.
- Nehemiah 2:3
And I said unto the king, Let the king live for ever: why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ sepulchres, lieth waste, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire?
- Romans 9:2
that I have great sorrow and unceasing pain in my heart.
- Esther 9:1
Now in the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, on the thirteenth day of the same, when the king’s commandment and his decree drew near to be put in execution, on the day that the enemies of the Jews hoped to have rule over them (whereas it was turned to the contrary, that the Jews had rule over them that hated them),
- Genesis 44:34
For how shall I go up to my father, if the lad be not with me? lest I see the evil that shall come on my father.
- Jeremiah 4:19
My anguish, my anguish! I am pained at my very heart; my heart is disquieted in me; I cannot hold my peace; because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.