What Does Esther 1:20 Mean?
And when the king's decree that he makes shall be heard throughout all his kingdom, for it is great, all the women shall give weight to their husbands, from great to small.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And when the king’s decree which he shall make shall be published throughout all his empire, (for it is great,) all the wives shall give to their husbands honour, both to great and small.THE KEY
What the KJV calls “published” is literally “heard”: the decree travels through listeners before it reaches into each household.
THE MEANING
A royal word moves throughout the empire and sets the expectation that every wife give honor to her husband, whether he is great or small. The verse shows public authority reaching into intimate life and prescribing its terms.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Private life is beyond the reach of public power.
THE ROOT
יִשָּׁמַע
yishamaʿ
GROWS FROM
שמע
sh-m-ʿ
hear, listen; in this form, be heard
The verb rendered “published” says that the decree is to be heard throughout the realm. Its root also gives words for hearing and for a report, showing how a royal word travels as something people hear and receive.
ALSO GROWS
shema: hear and respond
שְׁמַע
This related form makes hearing active; the decree reaches people through a word that calls for a response.
shemuʿah: report, news; what is heard
שְׁמוּעָה
A decree can travel as a report, carrying the king’s words beyond the court.
יְקָר
yeqār
GROWS FROM
יקר
y-q-r
be precious, valuable, costly
“weight” in this verse is yeqār. The word for honor carries the sense of preciousness and value: honor assigns worth. Here that worth is prescribed within every household, across the empire’s ranks.
ALSO GROWS
yāqār: precious, valuable, costly
יָקָר
This adjective shows the value contained in the root behind the verse’s word for honor.
yeqār: honor, worth, preciousness
יְקָר
This noun names worth as something recognized or rendered, linking the verse’s command to honor with the idea of a person’s value.
THE PATTERN
A spoken word reaches beyond its speaker as it is carried into household life.
And you shall sharpen them to your children, and speak of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk along the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up.And he sent scrolls to all the provinces of the king, to each province according to its writing, and to each people according to its tongue, that every man be chief in his own house, and speak according to the tongue of his people.And they spoke the word of the Lord to him, and to all who were in his house.THE THREAD
Then the king said, What weight and greatness has been done to Mordecai for this? Then the king's servants who attend him said, Nothing has been done for him.Esther 6:3 uses the same Hebrew word יְקָר (yeqār, honor and worth). Here honor is prescribed for husbands in every household; there the king asks whether honor has been rendered to Mordecai, exposing the gap between worth and recognition.
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