Esther 9:25
What does Esther 9:25 mean?
A plain-English look at Esther 9:25 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What Esther 9:25 means
When the plot came before the king, he ordered by letters that Haman’s wicked device should return on his own head. Haman and his sons were hanged. The verse summarizes the decisive reversal secured through royal authority. What had been legally contrived against the Jews was legally undone and redirected to the plotter himself. Justice came by edict, matching method with method: letters established the threat, and letters secured deliverance. The downfall of Haman’s house sealed the end of the scheme. This brief recap provides the moral and legal grounding for why Purim should be kept.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000but when the matter came before the king, he commanded by letters that his wicked device, which he had devised against the Jews, should return upon his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows.
KJV
King James Version · 1611But when Esther came before the king, he commanded by letters that his wicked device, which he devised against the Jews, should return upon his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows.
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901but when the matter came before the king, he commanded by letters that his wicked device, which he had devised against the Jews, should return upon his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows.
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949But when the business was put before the king, he gave orders by letters that the evil design which he had made against the Jews was to be turned against himself; and that he and his sons were to be put to death by hanging.
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862and in her coming in before the king, he said with the letter, `Let his evil device that he devised against the Jews turn back upon his own head,' and they have hanged him and his sons on the tree,
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752And afterwards Esther went in to the king, beseeching him that his endeavors might be made void by the king's letters: and the evil that he had intended against the Jews, might return upon his own head. And so both he and his sons were hanged upon gibbets.
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890and when [Esther] came before the king, he commanded by letters that his wicked device, which he had devised against the Jews, should return upon his own head; and they hanged him and his sons on the gallows.
Context
Following the reminder of Haman’s plan and lot-casting (v. 24), verse 25 highlights the king’s corrective action and Haman’s fate. With the reversal summarized, verse 26 will draw the name Purim from the word Pur and cite both the letter’s content and the people’s experience as the basis for naming. Verses 27–28 will then record the community’s formal adoption of the feast as a perpetual ordinance. The flow shows how narrative deliverance becomes normative remembrance through recognized authority and shared testimony.
v.24because Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had plotted against the Jews to destroy them, and had cast Pur, that is the lot, to consume them, and to destroy them;
v.25This passage
v.26Wherefore they called these days Purim, after the name of Pur. Therefore because of all the words of this letter, and of that which they had seen concerning this matter, and that which had come unto them,
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- Esther 9:13
Then said Esther, If it please the king, let it be granted to the Jews that are in Shushan to do to-morrow also according unto this day’s decree, and let Haman’s ten sons be hanged upon the gallows.
- Psalms 109:17
Yea, he loved cursing, and it came unto him; And he delighted not in blessing, and it was far from him.
- Psalms 141:10
Let the wicked fall into their own nets, Whilst that I withal escape.
- Psalms 140:9
As for the head of those that compass me about, Let the mischief of their own lips cover them.
- Psalms 7:16
His mischief shall return upon his own head, And his violence shall come down upon his own pate.
- Esther 7:5
Then spake the king Ahasuerus and said unto Esther the queen, Who is he, and where is he, that durst presume in his heart to do so?