What Does Esther 2:23 Mean?
And when the word was sought and found, both of them were hanged on a tree, and it was written in the book of the words of the days before the king.
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 inquisition was made of the matter, it was found out; therefore they were both hanged on a tree: and it was written in the book of the chronicles before the king.THE KEY
In Hebrew, the “matter” that is found and the “chronicles” that preserve it share a root: what happens becomes words that can be read again.
THE MEANING
The verse lets you see a report pursued until it is found: two officials are hanged, and the event is written into the king’s chronicle. What is recorded remains available after the violence has passed, where it can be read again and answered.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that what goes unrecognized in the moment is gone is undone: the chronicle keeps the report available for the king to encounter later.
THE ROOT
הַדָּבָר
hadavar
GROWS FROM
דבר
d-b-r
speak; word, matter, affair
“word” in this verse is hadavar. The KJV gives two English renderings to one root: the incident is הַדָּבָר (hadavar, “the matter”), and the archive is דִּבְרֵי הַיָּמִים (divrei hayamim, “words of the days”). The searched-out event becomes words held in the king’s record, still available to be read later.
ALSO GROWS
dāḇār: A word, matter, or affair
דָּבָר
This is the word translated “matter” in the verse, linking the reported incident to the record that preserves it.
dibbēr: Spoke or uttered
דִּבֵּר
The same root connects a matter to words spoken and then recorded.
devarim: Words or matters
דְּבָרִים
Its plural form echoes the “words of the days” kept in the chronicle.
וַיִּכָּתֵב
vayyikkatev
GROWS FROM
כתב
k-t-b
write, inscribe, set down in writing
The writing is part of the action: after the two men are hanged, the event is set down before the king. Esther 6:1 shows the record being read, so the written words keep the event available beyond the moment.
ALSO GROWS
kāṯaḇ: To write or inscribe
כָּתַב
This active form names the act that places the event in the royal record.
mikhtāḇ: A written message or letter
מִכְתָּב
The root also names a written object, like the chronicle that preserves this episode.
וַיְבֻקַּשׁ
vayvuqqash
GROWS FROM
בקש
b-q-sh
seek, search for, request
“inquisition was made / sought” in this verse is vayvuqqash. The KJV’s “inquisition was made” comes from a verb meaning the matter was sought. The verse leaves the seeker unnamed, then moves from search to discovery and execution.
ALSO GROWS
biqqēsh: Sought or requested
בִּקֵּשׁ
This verb makes the search for the matter explicit beneath the KJV wording.
mevaqqēsh: A seeker; one who searches
מְבַקֵּשׁ
The seeking form points to an active search, even though the verse does not name who conducts it.
THE PATTERN
A written record carries an event beyond its moment, keeping it available for later remembrance.
And the LORD said to Moses, Write this as a memorial in a scroll, and set it into the ears of Joshua. For I will surely wipe out the remembrance of Amalek from under the heavens.Then those who stand in awe of the LORD spoke, each one to his neighbor, and the LORD bent his ear and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written before his face for those in awe of the LORD, who reckon his name.It seemed good to me as well, having followed all things closely from the first, to write for you in sequence, most mighty Theophilus,THE THREAD
On that night the king's sleep fled, and he commanded that the book of remembrances, the words of the days, be brought, and they were read before the king.Esther 6:1 reopens the chronicle named here: its words are read before the king, and Mordecai’s report comes back into view. The shared davar root ties the “matter” to the “words” that preserve it, turning this final clause into a hinge for what follows.
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