What Does Esther 2:11 Mean in the King James?
And Mordecai walked every day before the court of the women’s house, to know how Esther did, and what should become of her.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
Mordecai’s daily walk asks after Esther’s shalom, her wholeness, and what is being done with her.
THE MEANING
Your present well-being matters, and so does what is taking shape around you. The verse holds both in view: the question of how you are, and the uncertainty of what will become of you.
THE ROOT
שְׁלוֹם
shalom
GROWS FROM
שלם
sh-l-m
To be whole, complete, or sound; in derived forms, to make whole or repay.
The Hebrew asks to know Esther’s shalom, a word for her whole condition, not merely how a day is going. Its root also carries the sense of completeness and making good, so the question reaches toward whether her life is whole amid what is being done with her.
ALSO GROWS
shalem: Whole, complete, sound.
שָׁלֵם
This form makes the sense of wholeness within the question about Esther’s welfare more visible.
shillem: To repay or make full payment.
שִׁלֵּם
This branch shares the root’s sense of making complete, linking shalom with a condition made whole.
THE PATTERN
Care and peace take shape as attention to another’s well-being, including the conditions surrounding it.
And he asked them of their welfare, and said, Is your father well, the old man of whom ye spake? Is he yet alive?Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee.Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.THE THREAD
And he asked them of their welfare, and said, Is your father well, the old man of whom ye spake? Is he yet alive?The same Hebrew word, shalom, appears here as “welfare” and “well,” while Esther’s verse renders it as “how Esther did.” The shared word makes the kinship clear: both passages ask after a person’s whole condition.
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