Esther 4:15

Then Esther bade them return Mordecai this answer,

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
Esther	אֶסְתֵּ֖ר 'es.Ter	H635	Ester · proper noun, a woman's name
bade	וַתֹּ֥אמֶר va.To.mer	H559	to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person feminine singular
return	לְהָשִׁ֥יב le.ha.Shiv	H7725	to turn back (hence · preposition + verb, hiphil infinitive construct
Mordecai	מָרְדֳּכָֽי ma.re.do.Khai	H4782	Mordecai · proper noun, a man's name

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Esther 4:5–end

So strictly did the laws of Persia confine the wives, especially the king's wives, that it was not possible for Mordecai to have a conference with Esther about this important affair, but divers messages are here carried between them by Hatach, whom the king had appointed to attend her, and it seems he was one she could confide in. I. She sent to Mordecai to know more particularly and fully what the trouble was which he was now lamenting (Est 4:5) and why it was that he would not put off his sackcloth. To enquire thus after news, that we may know the better how to direct our griefs and joys, our prayers and praises, well becomes all that love Sion. If we must weep with those that weep, we mus…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Esther 4:13

Then Mordecai commanded to answer Esther--His answer was to this effect, that Esther need not indulge the vain hope she would, from her royal connection, escape the general doom of her race--that he (Mordecai) confidently believed God would interpose, and, if not through her, by some other deliverer, save His people; but that the duty evidently devolved on her, as there was great reason to believe that this was the design of Providence in her elevation to the dignity of queen, and therefore that she should go with a courageous heart, not doubting of success.

Adam Clarke on Esther 4:14

Then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise - He had a confidence that deliverance would come by some means; and he thought that Esther would be the most likely; and that, if she did not use the influence which her providential station gave her, she would be highly culpable. And who knoweth whether thou art come - As if he had said, "Is it likely that Divine providence would have so distinguished thee, and raised thee from a state of abject obscurity, merely for thy own sake? Must it not have been on some public account! Did not he see what was coming? and has he not put thee in the place where thou mayest counteract one of the most ruinous purposes ever formed?" Is there a human bein…

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The Church Fathers

Mordecai prays with the Jews on behalf of Queen Esther, and the queen likewise prays for Mordecai and the Jews, because a teacher ought to offer prayers to the Lord on behalf of his students, and students on behalf of their teachers, that the entire community of the faithful—i.e. the limbs along with the whole body—may be kept whole through the kindness of Heaven. This explains why, when Paul writes to the Romans, he tells them that he constantly mentions them in his prayers; and he also makes these same Romans swear on the Lord Jesus Christ, and on the charity of the Holy Spirit, that they would help him in their prayers and pray for him to the Lord that he might be freed from the faithless who were in Judea, and that his ministry—which he was bringing to Jerusalem—might be acceptable to the saints. So too is it written in the Acts of the Apostles that when Peter was thrown in jail, the Church prayed constantly to the Lord on his behalf; and he himself likewise asks in his letter that the grace of God, and the peace of the Church, may be multiplied and fulfilled in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
— Rabanus Maurus, Commentary on Esther

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Prayer — Is converse with God; the intercourse of the soul with God, not in contemplation or meditation, but in direct address to him. Prayer may be oral or mental, occasional or constant, ejaculatory or…
Readings, Select · ESTHER’ S TRIUMPH — ESTHER’ S TRIUMPH

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Esther 4:15

Word by word — the Hebrew

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Esther 4:5–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Esther 4:13

Adam Clarke on Esther 4:14

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Esther 4:15

Word by word — the Hebrew

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Esther 4:5–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Esther 4:13

Adam Clarke on Esther 4:14

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Gill on Esther 4:15

Keil & Delitzsch on Esther 4:15-16

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Esther 4:13-14

Rashi on Esther 4:14