What Does Esther 8:9 Mean?
Then the king's scribes were called at that time, in the third month, Sivan, on the twenty-third day of it. And it was written according to all that Mordecai commanded to the Jews, and to the satraps, and to the governors, and to the princes of the provinces from India to Ethiopia, one hundred twenty-seven provinces, to every province according to its writing, and to every people according to their tongue, and to the Jews according to their writing and according to their tongue.
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
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.THE KEY
The decree reaches every people by taking the shape of their own writing and tongue.
THE MEANING
A message crosses differences when it reaches actual readers and hearers in forms they can receive. The shared command travels through each people’s distinct writing and language, including the Jews’ own. The verse holds one message and many ways of expressing it together.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a message must use one uniform language and script to remain one message.
THE ROOT
כִּלְשֹׁנוֹ
kilshono
GROWS FROM
לשן
Tongue; speech or language.
Hebrew names language with the word for the tongue itself. The decree travels according to each people’s tongue, so the text makes linguistic difference part of how the message reaches them.
ALSO GROWS
lashon: Tongue; language.
לָשׁוֹן
The word joins the physical tongue to the language a people speaks.
leshonot: Tongues; languages.
לְשׁוֹנוֹת
The plural carries the same image across the many distinct languages named in the verse.
סֹפְרֵי
sofrei
GROWS FROM
ספר
To count, recount, or record.
The word for scribes shares its root with counting, books, and accounts. In the same verse that names the scribes, the reach of the decree is counted across 127 provinces: recording and counting belong to one linguistic family.
ALSO GROWS
safar: To count or recount.
סָפַר
The verse’s exact count of provinces echoes the root associated with the scribes.
sefer: Book or scroll.
סֵפֶר
The scribe’s work belongs to the same root family as the written record.
sippur: Account or story.
סִפּוּר
The root also carries the sense of recounting something so it can be received by others.
כִּכְתָבָם
kikhtavam
GROWS FROM
כתב
To write or inscribe.
This root names both the act of writing and the script that remains on the page. The decree takes a form each province can read, then names the Jews’ own writing again alongside their language.
ALSO GROWS
katav: To write.
כָּתַב
The written decree begins with the act of inscribing the command.
ketav: Writing or script.
כְּתָב
The verse’s concern is the particular script in which each province receives the message.
miktav: Letter or written message.
מִכְתָּב
The root can name a message made portable through writing.
THE PATTERN
A message reaches people across difference when it is made understandable in the language and form they receive.
So they read aloud from the scroll of the instruction of God, spread open, and set the sense in place, and caused the people to perceive in the reading.When this voice arose, the crowd came together and was poured into confusion, because each one heard them speaking in his own tongue.THE THREAD
And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon the tablets, so that the one who calls it out may run.Esther’s “writing” and Habakkuk’s “Write” share the Hebrew root כתב, which names both the act of writing and the script it leaves behind. Habakkuk joins writing to plainness for the reader; Esther shows that the written message travels through each people’s own script.
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