What Does Esther 9:12 Mean?
And the king said to Esther the queen, "The Jews have slain and made five hundred men perish in Shushan the palace, and the ten sons of Haman. What have they done in the rest of the king's provinces? Now, what is your asking? It shall be given to you. And what is your seeking further? It shall be done."
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 the king said unto Esther the queen, The Jews have slain and destroyed five hundred men in Shushan the palace, and the ten sons of Haman; what have they done in the rest of the king’s provinces? now what is thy petition? and it shall be granted thee: or what is thy request further? and it shall be done.THE KEY
The Hebrew pairs an appeal with a pursuit: the king asks what Esther petitions for and what she is seeking, even as the verse names the dead.
THE MEANING
The verse puts the dead before you in a blunt count, five hundred men and Haman’s ten sons, and leaves the violence named. In the same scene, the king asks both what Esther petitions for and what she seeks, promising that the answer will be granted and carried out.
THE ROOT
בַּקָּשָׁה
baqqashah
GROWS FROM
בקש
baqash
Seek, search for, request.
The word rendered “request” grows from בקש (baqash, seek or search for). Beside שאל (sha’al, ask or inquire), it carries a distinct shade: the king asks not only what Esther asks for, but what she is seeking.
ALSO GROWS
biqqesh: Sought, searched for, requested.
בִּקֵּשׁ
The king’s “request” shares its seed with the act of seeking, giving the second question the sense of what Esther pursues.
mevaqqesh: One who seeks.
מְבַקֵּשׁ
The seeker belongs to the same root family, so a request is something pursued and brought into view.
שְׁאֵלָה
she'elah
GROWS FROM
שאל
sha'al
Ask, inquire, request; in some forms, borrow.
The noun comes from שאל (sha’al, ask or inquire), a verb that can also mean “borrow.” The petition is an asking directed outward, seeking a response from the one with power to grant it.
ALSO GROWS
sha'al: Asked, inquired, requested.
שָׁאַל
This verb is the action inside the noun “petition,” making the king’s question an invitation to voice an ask.
she'ilah: Borrowing, a loan.
שְׁאִילָה
This related form also names something sought from another, keeping the root’s sense of asking outward.
וְאַבֵּד
ve'abbed
GROWS FROM
אבד
abad
Perish, be lost, lose the way; in a causative form, cause to perish or destroy.
“made five hundred men perish” in this verse is ve'abbed. אבד (abad, perish or be lost) can appear causatively as “destroy.” The root holds the human loss inside the verse’s stark statement that people are destroyed.
ALSO GROWS
oved: Perishing, lost.
אֹבֵד
This form names what is lost or perishing, keeping “destroyed” connected to the loss of actual lives.
avaddon: Destruction, ruin.
אֲבַדּוֹן
This related noun names the outcome in the same root family; here the verse states that outcome plainly.
THE PATTERN
An invitation to ask becomes an invitation to name both what is requested and what is sought.
And the king said to Esther at the drinking of wine, What is your asking? It shall be given you. And what is your seeking? Even to half the governance it shall be done.In Gibeon the LORD showed himself to Solomon in a dream by night, and God said, Ask what I shall give you.Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.THE THREAD
And the king said to Esther at the drinking of wine, What is your asking? It shall be given you. And what is your seeking? Even to half the governance it shall be done.Esther 5:6 repeats the same Hebrew pair: שְׁאֵלָה (she’elah, petition) from שאל (sha’al, ask) and בַּקָּשָׁה (baqqashah, request) from בקש (baqash, seek). That echo makes the king’s two questions more than repetition: one names what Esther asks for, the other what she is pursuing.
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