Esther 5:3

Then said the king unto her, What wilt thou, queen Esther? and what is thy request? it shall be even given thee to the half of the kingdom.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
said	וַיֹּ֤אמֶר vai.Yo.mer	H559	to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
king	הַמֶּ֔לֶךְ ha.Me.lekh	H4428	a king · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
queen	הַמַּלְכָּ֑ה ha.mal.Kah	H4436	a queen · definite article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
Esther	אֶסְתֵּ֣ר 'es.Ter	H635	Ester · proper noun, a woman's name
request	בַּקָּשָׁתֵ֛ךְ ba.ka.sha.Tekh	H1246	a petition · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person feminine singular
given	וְיִנָּ֥תֵֽן ve.yi.Na.ten	H5414	to give · conjunction + verb, niphal, 3rd person masculine singular
half	חֲצִ֥י cha.Tzi	H2677	the half or middle · noun, common masculine singular construct
kingdom	הַמַּלְכ֖וּת ha.mal.Khut	H4438	a rule · definite article + noun, common feminine singular absolute

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).

Cross-references

Mark 6:23 And he sware unto her, Whatsoever thou shalt ask of me, I will give it thee, unto the half of my kingdom.
Esther 7:2 And the king said again unto Esther on the second day at the banquet of wine, What is thy petition, queen Esther? and it shall be granted th…
Esther 5:6 And the king said unto Esther at the banquet of wine, What is thy petition? and it shall be granted thee: and what is thy request? even to t…
Esther 9:12 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…
1 Kings 3:5 In Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night: and God said, Ask what I shall give thee.
Matthew 20:20-22 Then came to him the mother of Zebedee’s children with her sons, worshipping him, and desiring a certain thing of him.
1 Kings 2:20 Then she said, I desire one small petition of thee; I pray thee, say me not nay. And the king said unto her, Ask on, my mother: for I will n…
Luke 18:41 Saying, What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee? And he said, Lord, that I may receive my sight.

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Esther 5:1-8

Here is, I. Esther's bold approach to the king, Est 5:1. When the time appointed for their fast was finished she lost no time, but on the third day, when the impression of her devotions were fresh upon her spirit, she addressed the king. When the heart is enlarged in communion with God it will be emboldened in doing and suffering for him. Some think that the three days' fast was only one whole day and two whole nights, in all which time they did not take any food at all, and that this is called three days, as Christ's lying in the grave so long is. This exposition is favoured by the consideration that on the third day the queen made her appearance at court. Resolutions which have difficultie…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Esther 5:3

it shall be even given thee to the half of the kingdom--This mode of speaking originated in the Persian custom of appropriating for the maintenance of great men, or royal favorites, one city for his bread, another for his wine, a third for his clothes, &c., so that the phrase denoted great liberality.

Adam Clarke on Esther 5:2

She obtained favor in his sight - The Septuagint represents "the king as being at first greatly enraged when he saw Esther, because she had dared to appear before him unveiled, and she, perceiving this, was so terrified that she fainted away; on which the king, touched with tenderness, sprung from his throne, took her up in his arms, laid the golden scepter on her neck, and spoke to her in the most endearing manner." This is more circumstantial than the Hebrew, but is not contrary to it. The golden scepter that was in his hand - That the kings of Persia did wear a golden scepter, we have the following proof in Xenophon: Ὁτι ου τοδε το χρυσουν σκηπτρον το την βασιλειαν διασωξον εστιν, αλλ' π…

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John Gill on Esther 5:3

Then said the king unto her, what wilt thou, Queen Esther?.... He supposed she had some business with him, some suit to make to him, by her coming in this manner: and what is thy request? signifying he was ready to grant it, be it what it would: it shall be even given thee to the half of the kingdom; as it was usual with the Persian kings to give their wives cities for certain purposes; see Gill on Esther 2:18, here Ahasuerus, out of his great affection to Esther, offers half of his dominions, his one hundred and twenty seven provinces; meaning that he would grant her anything, and everything that was reasonable, and even magnificent; it is an hyperbolical and courtly way of speaking, and…

The Church Fathers

And with regard to her petition, the king answered that he would listen to it, as it is said in the gospel as well, "Ask, and it will be given you; seek and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you." And again: "Ask, and you will receive, that you joy may be full." Indeed the full joy of the church is provided nowhere but in the perception of the heavenly kingdom where the queen will happily reign with the king Christ forever.
— Rabanus Maurus, EXPLANATION ON THE BOOK OF ESTHER 8

And the king himself pledges that he will agree to her request, just as he says in the Gospel: "Ask and it shall be given to you; seek and you shall find; knock and it shall be opened to you" (Matthew 7). And likewise: "Seek and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete." For complete joy is given to the holy Church solely in the sense that it partakes in the kingdom of Heaven, where the fortunate queen will rule forever with Christ the king.
— 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

Banquet — A feast provided for the entertainment of a company of guests (Esther 5; 7; 1 Pet. 4:3); such as was provided for our Lord by his friends in Bethany (Matt. 26:6; Mark 14:3; comp. John 12:2). These…

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 5:3

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Esther 5:1-8

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Esther 5:3

Adam Clarke on Esther 5:2

John Gill on Esther 5:3

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Esther 5:3

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Esther 5:1-8

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Esther 5:3

Adam Clarke on Esther 5:2

John Gill on Esther 5:3

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Keil & Delitzsch on Esther 5:1-8

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Esther 5:3

Rashi on Esther 5:3