What Does Esther 2:18 Mean in the King James?
Then the king made a great feast unto all his princes and his servants, even Esther’s feast; and he made a release to the provinces, and gave gifts, according to the state of the king.
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
The feast’s abundance is measured by the release and gifts that travel outward from the palace.
THE MEANING
You meet a celebration whose abundance reaches beyond its table: the provinces receive release, and gifts are given widely. Here, joy includes easing burdens and moving provision outward.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that celebration is complete once the powerful have feasted; its reach appears in the release and gifts extended to the provinces.
THE ROOT
וַהֲנָחָה
vahanachah
GROWS FROM
נוּחַ
nuach
to rest, settle, or come to rest
The word translated “release” is rooted in rest and settling: the relief given to the provinces is a loosening that lets a burdened place settle. English “release” holds the action, while the Hebrew root also shows the rest that follows it.
ALSO GROWS
menuchah: rest, resting place
מְנוּחָה
This branch names the settled condition that release makes possible.
vattanach: and it rested
וַתָּנַח
The same root describes the ark coming to rest, showing release as a movement toward settling.
מַשְׂאֵת
mas'et
GROWS FROM
נָשָׂא
nasa
to lift, carry, or bear
The word rendered “gifts” comes from the root for lifting and carrying. Beside “release,” rooted in rest, it gives the verse a paired movement: burdens ease while provision is carried outward.
ALSO GROWS
massa: a load, burden
מַשָּׂא
This branch shares the root’s sense of what is carried, echoing the relief implied by the provinces’ release.
nasi: prince, chief
נָשִׂיא
This word for a leader is connected to being raised up, tying royal elevation to what the king sends outward.
THE PATTERN
Abundance becomes communal when festivity sends relief and provision outward.
Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the LORD is your strength.As the days wherein the Jews rested from their enemies, and the month which was turned unto them from sorrow to joy, and from mourning into a good day: that they should make them days of feasting and joy, and of sending portions one to another, and gifts to the poor.But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind:THE THREAD
And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat.The word translated “release” in Esther comes from נוּחַ (nuach, rest or settle), the same root behind “rested” here. That shared seed opens release as more than a decree: it is relief that lets what is burdened come to rest.
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