TRV
Translation
King James Version
¶ And Esther spake yet again before the king, and fell down at his feet, and besought him with tears to put away the mischief of Haman the Agagite, and his device that he had devised against the Jews.
KJV (with Strong's)
Complete Jewish Bible
Again Ester spoke to the king; she fell at his feet and begged him with tears to put an end to the mischief Haman the Agagi had caused by the scheme he had worked out against the Jews.
Berean Standard Bible
And once again, Esther addressed the king. She fell at his feet weeping and begged him to revoke the evil scheme of Haman the Agagite, which he had devised against the Jews.
American Standard Version
And Esther spake yet again before the king, and fell down at his feet, and besought him with tears to put away the mischief of Haman the Agagite, and his device that he had devised against the Jews.
World English Bible Messianic
Esther spoke yet again before the king, and fell down at his feet, and begged him with tears to put away the mischief of Haman the Agagite, and his device that he had devised against the Jews.
Geneva Bible (1599)
And Ester spake yet more before the King, and fell downe at his feete weeping, and besought him that he would put away the wickednes of Haman the Agagite, and his deuice that he had imagined against the Iewes.
Young's Literal Translation
And Esther addeth, and speaketh before the king, and falleth before his feet, and weepeth, and maketh supplication to him, to cause the evil of Haman the Agagite to pass away, and his device that he had devised against the Jews;
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Commentary on Esther 8 verses 3–14
3 ¶ And Esther spake yet again before the king, and fell down at his feet, and besought him with tears to put away the mischief of Haman the Agagite, and his device that he had devised against the Jews.
4 Then the king held out the golden sceptre toward Esther. So Esther arose, and stood before the king,
5 And 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:
6 For 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?
7 Then 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.
8 Write ye also for the Jews, as it liketh you, in the king's name, and seal it with the king's ring: for the writing which is written in the king's name, and sealed with the king's ring, may no man reverse.
9 Then were the king's scribes called at that time in the third month, that is, the month Sivan, on the three and twentieth day thereof; and it was written according to all that Mordecai commanded unto the Jews, and to the lieutenants, and the deputies and rulers of the provinces which are from India unto Ethiopia, an hundred twenty and seven provinces, unto every province according to the writing thereof, and unto every people after their language, and to the Jews according to their writing, and according to their language.
10 And he wrote in the king Ahasuerus' name, and sealed it with the king's ring, and sent letters by posts on horseback, and riders on mules, camels, and young dromedaries:
11 Wherein the king granted the Jews which were in every city to gather themselves together, and to stand for their life, to destroy, to slay, and to cause to perish, all the power of the people and province that would assault them, both little ones and women, and to take the spoil of them for a prey,
12 Upon one day in all the provinces of king Ahasuerus, namely, upon the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar.
13 The copy of the writing for a commandment to be given in every province was published unto all people, and that the Jews should be ready against that day to avenge themselves on their enemies.
14 So the posts that rode upon mules and camels went out, being hastened and pressed on by the king's commandment. And the decree was given at Shushan the palace.
Haman, the chief enemy of the Jews, was hanged, Mordecai and Esther, their chief friends, were sufficiently protected; but many others there were in the king's dominions that hated the Jews and desired their ruin, and to their rage and malice all the rest of that people lay exposed; for the edict against them was still in force, and, in pursuance of it, their enemies would on the day appointed fall upon them, and they would be deemed as rebels against the king and his government if they should offer to resist and take up arms in their own defence. For the preventing of this,
I. The queen here makes intercession with much affection and importunity. She came, a second time, uncalled into the king's presence (Est 8:3), and was as before encouraged to present her petition, by the king's holding out the golden sceptre to her, Est 8:4. Her petition is that the king, having put away Haman, would put away the mischief of Haman and his device against the Jews, that that might not take place now that he was taken off. Many a man's mischief survives him, and the wickedness he devised operates when he is gone. What men project and write may, after their death, be either very profitable or very pernicious. It was therefore requisite in this case that, for the defeating of Haman's plot, they should apply to the king for a further act of grace, that by another edict he would reverse the letters devised by Haman, and which he wrote (she does not say which the king consented to and confirmed with his own seal; she leaves it to his own conscience to say that), by which he took an effectual course to destroy the Jews in all the king's provinces, Est 8:5. If the king were indeed, as he seemed to be, troubled that such a decree was made, he could not do less than revoke it; for what is repentance, but undoing, to the utmost of our power, what we have done amiss? 1. This petition Esther presents with much affection: She fell down at the king's feet and besought him with tears (Est 8:3), every tear as precious as any of the pearls with which she was adorned. It was time to be earnest when the church of God lay at stake. Let none be so great as to be unwilling to stoop, none so merry as to be unwilling to weep, when thereby they may do any service to God's church and people. Esther, though safe herself, fell down, and begged with tears for the deliverance of her people. 2. She expresses it with great submission, and a profound deference to the king and his wisdom and will (Est 8:5): If it please the king and if I have found favour in his sightand again, "If the thing itself seem right and reasonable before the king, and if I that ask it be pleasing in his eyes, let the decree be reversed." Even when we have the utmost reason and justice on our side, and have the clearest cause to plead, yet it becomes us to speak to our superiors with humility and modesty, and all possible expressions of respect, and not to talk like demandants when we are supplicants. There is nothing lost be decency and good breeding. As soft answers turn away wrath, so soft askings obtain favour. 3. She enforces her petition with a pathetic plea: "For how can I endure to see the evil that shall come upon my people? Little comfort can I have of my own life if I cannot prevail for theirs: as good share in the evil myself as see it come upon them; for how can I endure to see the destruction of my kindred, that are dear to me?" Esther, a queen, owns her poor kindred, and speaks of them with a very tender concern. Now it was that she mingled her tears with her words, that she wept and made supplication; we read of no tears when she begged for her own life, but, now that she was sure of that, she wept for her people. Tears of pity and tenderness are the most Christ-like. Those that are truly concerned for the public would rather die in the last ditch than live to see the desolations of the church of God and the ruin of their country. Tender spirits cannot bear to think of the destruction of their people and kindred, and therefore dare not omit any opportunity of giving them relief.
II. The king here takes a course for the preventing of the mischief that Haman had designed. 1. The king knew, and informed the queen, that, according to the constitution of the Persian government, the former edict could not be revoked (Est 8:8): What is written in the king's name, and sealed with the king's ring, may not, under any pretence whatsoever, be reversed. This was a fundamental article of their magna charta, that no law or decree, when once it had passed the royal assent, could be repealed or recalled, no judgment vacated, no attainder reversed, Dan 6:15. This is so far from bespeaking the wisdom and honour of the Medes and Persians that really it bespeaks their pride and folly, and consequently their shame. It is ridiculous in itself for any man, or company of men, to pretend to such an infallibility of wisdom as to foresee all the consequences of what they decree; and therefore it is unjust, and injurious to mankind, to claim such a supremacy of power as to make their decrees irrevocable, whether the consequences prove good or bad. This savours of that old presumption which ruined us all: We will be as gods. Much more prudent is that proviso of our constitution, that no law can, by any words or sanctions whatsoever, be made unrepealable, any more than any estate unalienable. Cujus est instruere, ejus est destruere - the right to enact implies the right to repeal. It is God's prerogative not to repent, and to say what can never be altered or unsaid. 2. Yet he found an expedient to undo the devices of Haman, and defeat his design, by signing and publishing another decree to authorize the Jews to stand upon their defence, vim vi repellere, et invasorem occidere - to oppose force to force, and destroy the assailant. This would be their effectual security. The king shows them that he had done enough already to convince them that he had a concern for the Jewish nation, for he had ordered his favourite to be hanged because he laid his hand upon the Jews (Est 8:7), and he therefore would d the utmost he could to protect them; and he leaves it as fully with Esther and Mordecai to use his name and power for their deliverance as before he had left it with Haman to use his name and power for their destruction: "Write for the Jews as it liketh you (Est 8:8), saving only the honour of our constitution. Let the mischief be put away as effectually as may be without reversing the letters." The secretaries of state were ordered to attend to draw up this edict on the twenty-third day of the third month (Est 8:9), about two months after the promulgation of the former, but nine months before the time set for its execution: it was to be drawn up and published in the respective languages of all the provinces. Shall the subjects of an earthly prince have his decrees in a language they understand? and shall God's oracles and laws be locked up from his servants in an unknown tongue? It was to be directed to the proper officers of every province, both to the justices of peace and to the deputy-lieutenants. It was to be carefully dispersed throughout all the king's dominions, and true copies sent by expresses to all the provinces. The purport of this decree was to commission the Jews, upon the day which was appointed for their destruction, to draw together in a body for their own defence. And, (1.) To stand for their life, that, whoever assaulted them, it might be at their peril. (2.) They might not only act defensively, but might destroy, and slay, and cause to perish, all the power of the people that would assault them, men, women, and children (Est 8:11), and thus to avenge themselves on their enemies (Est 8:13), and, if they pleased, to enrich themselves by their enemies, for they were empowered to take the spoil of them for a prey. Now, [1.] This showed his kindness to the Jews, and sufficiently provided for their safety; for he latter decree would be looked upon as a tacit revocation of the former, though not in expression. But, [2.] It shows the absurdity of that branch of their constitution that none of the king's edicts might be repealed; for it laid the king here under a necessity of enacting a civil war in his own dominions, between the Jews and their enemies, so that both sides took up arms by his authority, and yet against his authority. No better could come of men's pretending to be wise above what is given them. Great expedition was used in dispersing this decree, the king himself being in pain lest it should come too late and any mischief should be done to the Jews by virtue of the former decree before the notice of this arrived. It was therefore by the king's commandment, as well as Mordecai's, that the messengers were hastened and pressed on (Est 8:14), and had swift beasts provided them, Est 8:10. It was not a time to trifle when so many lives were in danger.
Matthew Henry (1662–1714) — Commentary on the Whole Bible. This section covers verses 3–14. Public domain.
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Rabanus MaurusAD 856
EXPLANATION ON THE BOOK OF ESTHER 11
The fact that Esther falls at the feet of the king and entreats him for the salvation of the people plainly symbolizes the holy church that humbly implores the almighty Lord every day for the rescue of her children through the faith and the mystery of the incarnation of the only begotten Son, so that the arrogance of her enemies may be restrained by the (Lord’s) grace, and the innocence of the faithful may be freed from the clutches of the (wicked). The heavenly king holds out his golden scepter to the pleading queen because he abundantly bestows the clemency of his mercy upon her. She asks that the old decree of the most wicked Haman may be changed into a new decree. Indeed this is the interest of the true queen, namely that any sect that is in error, any hostile plot which the ancient enemy prepares through his ministers for the extinction of the people of God, may be repelled and destroyed through the saving documents of the gospel.
Rabanus MaurusAD 856
Commentary on Esther
So when Esther falls at the feet of the king and beseeches him for the sake of her people, this must refer to the fact that every day the holy Church humbly petitions the Lord Almighty—through the faith and mysteries of the incarnate, only-born Son of God—to free her children so that through his grace, the arrogance of the enemy might be crushed and the innocence of the faithful be freed from their hands. The supreme king holds out his golden scepter toward the queen as she pleads with him, because he is lavishing on her the mercy of his righteousness. She asks that the earlier letters of the wicked Haman be replaced with new instructions, because it is the fervent wish of the new queen that the followers of every error in doctrine, and all the hostile machinations with which the ancient enemy tried through its agents to exterminate the people of God, should be rejected and destroyed by the thoroughly salutary writings of the Gospels. The letters themselves are written in the name of the king and then sealed with his ring, because the teaching of the Gospels—which are preached throughout the world in the name of Christ—are declared everywhere to be confirmed by the seal of the Holy Spirit, since the preachers themselves, who are filled with its gift, seem to everyone to be undefeatable in their unflagging strength and to remain ever glorious and triumphant over their enemies.
Source: Quotations drawn from early Church Fathers and historical Christian theologians (AD 100–1500). Some quotes address the surrounding passage context rather than this verse alone.
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SUMMARY
Esther 8:3 powerfully depicts Queen Esther's renewed and desperate appeal to King Ahasuerus. Despite Haman's recent execution, his genocidal decree against the Jewish people remained legally binding throughout the vast Persian Empire, posing an imminent existential threat. This verse vividly portrays Esther's profound anguish and unwavering resolve as she prostrates herself before the king, pleading with deep emotion for the annulment of Haman's meticulously crafted evil plot, thereby underscoring the dire urgency and the continued peril facing her people.
CONTEXT
Literary Context: This verse immediately follows the dramatic climax of Haman's downfall and execution at Esther's first banquet. While the immediate orchestrator of the evil plot is gone, the legal mechanism for the annihilation of the Jews, sealed with the king's own ring, still stands. Persian law, as established in Esther 1:19 and reiterated in Esther 8:8, dictated that a royal edict, once issued and sealed, could not be revoked. Esther's initial courageous approach to the king, risking her life to expose Haman (Esther 4:16), successfully removed the conspirator. This second, equally perilous appeal is now directed at the decree itself, demonstrating that her mission was not merely to punish Haman, but to secure the complete deliverance of her people from the impending genocide.
Historical & Cultural Context: The Achaemenid Persian Empire was a vast and diverse dominion, stretching from India to Ethiopia. Its legal system, particularly the immutability of royal decrees, was a cornerstone of its governance, designed to project absolute authority and stability. The king's word, once sealed, was considered unchangeable, even by the king himself. This cultural context elevates Esther's plea from a simple request to a monumental challenge to the very foundation of Persian law. Her act of falling at the king's feet and weeping would have been a profoundly emotional and culturally significant gesture, a desperate appeal to the king's personal compassion and power, hoping he could find a legal loophole or a creative solution within the rigid system. The reference to "Haman the Agagite" also carries significant historical weight, linking him to Agag, the king of the Amalekites, Israel's ancient, sworn enemy (1 Samuel 15:8). This lineage underscores the deep-seated, almost theological, hatred behind Haman's plot.
Key Themes: This verse powerfully contributes to several key themes within the Book of Esther. Persistent Advocacy is paramount, as Esther's return to the king, even after Haman's demise, highlights her unwavering dedication to her people's salvation. It wasn't enough to remove the orchestrator; the "mischief" (the decree) had to be undone, demonstrating that true victory often requires sustained effort beyond initial success. Compassionate Leadership is vividly displayed through Esther's act of falling at the king's feet and beseeching him "with tears," revealing the depth of her emotional burden and the genuine distress she felt for her people. This vulnerable yet powerful plea was designed to move the king to action, showcasing leadership rooted in empathy. Furthermore, the verse emphasizes The Gravity of the Threat, highlighting "the mischief of Haman the Agagite, and his device that he had devised against the Jews," which underscores the premeditated evil and the comprehensive, genocidal nature of the plot to destroy an entire ethnicity, a threat that lingered despite Haman's death.
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
Esther 8:3 is rich in Pathos, as Esther's actions—falling at the king's feet and beseeching him "with tears"—are designed to evoke deep emotion and sympathy from both the king and the reader. Her vulnerability and visible distress underscore the immense gravity of the situation and her profound love for her people. The phrase "Haman the Agagite" employs Allusion and Symbolism, connecting Haman to the ancient, perpetual enemy of Israel, Amalek, thereby elevating the conflict from a personal vendetta to an archetypal struggle between good and evil, God's people and those who seek their destruction. The verse also implicitly uses Dramatic Irony, as the reader knows Haman is dead, yet the "mischief" he devised still threatens, highlighting the enduring power of evil systems even after their orchestrators are removed.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
Esther 8:3 is a powerful testament to the necessity of persistent intercession and courageous advocacy in the face of systemic evil. Even after a significant victory (Haman's execution), Esther understood that the underlying "mischief" and "device" still posed an existential threat. This highlights a crucial theological truth: while God's providential hand is at work, human agency, marked by courage, compassion, and tireless effort, is often the means through which His deliverance is actualized. Esther's tears and prostration are not signs of weakness but of profound spiritual and emotional strength, demonstrating that true leadership often involves vulnerable, heartfelt appeals for justice and mercy. Her actions serve as a model for believers called to stand against injustice and advocate for the vulnerable, understanding that removing an individual perpetrator does not always dismantle the evil systems they established.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
Esther 8:3 challenges believers to consider the full scope of their advocacy and the depth of their compassion. It reminds us that spiritual battles and societal injustices often have layers; removing an overt antagonist is a victory, but the "mischief" or systemic "devices" they put in place may still linger, requiring persistent, tearful, and courageous engagement. Esther's willingness to humble herself and pour out her heart for her people, even after achieving a major success, exemplifies a leadership that is not content until true deliverance is secured. This verse calls us to move beyond superficial solutions, to identify the root causes of suffering, and to engage in sustained, empathetic action, knowing that our intercession, whether in prayer or practical advocacy, is vital in God's plan for justice and redemption.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
Why was the decree still valid even after Haman was executed?
Answer: According to Persian law, as explicitly stated in Esther 1:19 and reiterated in Esther 8:8, a royal decree, once issued and sealed with the king's signet ring, was irreversible. It could not be revoked or annulled, not even by the king himself. Haman's execution removed the conspirator, but the legal instrument he had set in motion remained in effect, posing an ongoing existential threat to the Jews throughout the empire. This legal rigidity necessitated a creative solution, not a direct revocation, which is precisely what Esther and Mordecai pursue in the subsequent verses.
What is the significance of Haman being called "the Agagite"?
Answer: The title "Agagite" connects Haman to Agag, the king of the Amalekites, who were a perennial enemy of Israel from the time of the Exodus (Exodus 17:8-16). God had commanded Israel to utterly blot out the memory of Amalek (Deuteronomy 25:17-19). Saul, Israel's first king, failed to fully obey this command by sparing Agag (1 Samuel 15:8-9), a failure that led to his rejection as king. By identifying Haman as "the Agagite," the narrative elevates his personal hatred into a continuation of this ancient, divinely condemned enmity, underscoring the deep theological significance of his genocidal plot against the Jewish people.
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
Esther's tearful, prostrate intercession to annul a death decree against her people powerfully foreshadows the ultimate intercession of Jesus Christ. Humanity, by its sin, was under a death sentence, a "device" of spiritual destruction that no human effort could revoke (Romans 6:23). Just as Esther, at great personal risk, pleaded for her people, so Christ, the perfect Intercessor, humbled Himself, taking on human flesh and pouring out His life, not with tears of supplication for a king, but with His very blood on the cross (Hebrews 5:7; Romans 5:8). Through His sacrifice, He did not merely "put away" the mischief of sin, but utterly disarmed and triumphed over the spiritual powers that held humanity captive (Colossians 2:14-15). While Esther secured a counter-decree allowing the Jews to defend themselves, Christ established a new covenant, offering eternal life and true freedom from sin's dominion to all who believe, effectively canceling the "record of debt" against us (Hebrews 8:6; Colossians 2:14). He is our High Priest, who ever lives to make intercession for us (Hebrews 7:25), ensuring that no "device" of the enemy can ultimately prevail against those who are in Him (Romans 8:31-39).