but when this became known to the king, he commanded by letters that his wicked plan, which he had planned against the Jews, should return on his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows.
Parallel Translations
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but when this became known to the king, he commanded by letters that his wicked plan, which he had planned against the Jews, should return on his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows.
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But when Esther came before the king, he commanded by letters that his wicked device, which he devised against the Jews, should return upon his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows.
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but when she came before the king, he commanded by letters that his wicked device, which he had devised against the Jews, should return upon his own head; and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows.
Cross-references (7)
Passages linked to Esther 9:25 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Psalms 7:16 The trouble he causes shall return to his own head. His violence shall come down on the crown of his own head.
- Esther 7:5–8:14 Then King Ahasuerus said to Esther the queen, “Who is he, and where is he who dared presume in his heart to do so?” Esther said, “An adversary and an enemy, even this wicked Haman!” Then Haman was afraid before the king and the queen. The king arose in his wrath from the banquet of wine and went into the palace garden. Haman stood up to make request for his life to Esther the queen; for he saw that there was evil determined against him by the king. Then the king returned out of the palace garden into the place of the banquet of wine; and Haman had fallen on the couch where Esther was. Then the king said, “Will he even assault the queen in front of me in the house?” As the word went out of the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face. Then Harbonah, one of the eunuchs who were with the king said, “Behold, the gallows fifty cubits high, which Haman has made for Mordecai, who spoke good for the king, is standing at Haman’s house.” The king said, “Hang him on it!” So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the king’s wrath was pacified. On that day, King Ahasuerus gave the house of Haman, the Jews’ enemy, to Esther the queen. Mordecai came before the king; for Esther had told what he was to her. The king took off his ring, which he had taken from Haman, and gave it to Mordecai. Esther set Mordecai over the house of Haman. Esther spoke yet again before the king, and fell down at his feet, and begged him with tears to put away the mischief of Haman the Agagite, and his plan that he had planned against the Jews. Then the king held out to Esther the golden scepter. So Esther arose, and stood before the king. She said, “If it pleases the king, and if I have found favor in his sight, and the thing seem right to the king, and I am pleasing in his eyes, let it be written to reverse the letters devised by Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, which he wrote to destroy the Jews who are in all the king’s provinces. For how can I endure to see the evil that would come to my people? How can I endure to see the destruction of my relatives?” Then King Ahasuerus said to Esther the queen and to Mordecai the Jew, “See, I have given Esther the house of Haman, and they have hanged him on the gallows, because he laid his hand on the Jews. Write also to the Jews, as it pleases you, in the king’s name, and seal it with the king’s ring; for the writing which is written in the king’s name, and sealed with the king’s ring, may not be reversed by any man.” Then the king’s scribes were called at that time, in the third month, which is the month Sivan, on the twenty-third day of the month; and it was written according to all that Mordecai commanded to the Jews, and to the local governors, and the governors and princes of the provinces which are from India to Ethiopia, one hundred twenty-seven provinces, to every province according to its writing, and to every people in their language, and to the Jews in their writing, and in their language. He wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus, and sealed it with the king’s ring, and sent letters by courier on horseback, riding on royal horses that were bred from swift steeds. In those letters, the king granted the Jews who were in every city to gather themselves together, and to defend their life, to destroy, to kill, and to cause to perish, all the power of the people and province that would assault them, their little ones and women, and to plunder their possessions, on one day in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar. A copy of the letter, that the decree should be given out in every province, was published to all the peoples, that the Jews should be ready for that day to avenge themselves on their enemies. So the couriers who rode on royal horses went out, hastened and pressed on by the king’s commandment. The decree was given out in the citadel of Susa.
- Esther 9:13-14 Then Esther said, “If it pleases the king, let it be granted to the Jews who are in Susa to do tomorrow also according to today’s decree, and let Haman’s ten sons be hanged on the gallows.” The king commanded this to be done. A decree was given out in Susa; and they hanged Haman’s ten sons.
- Psalms 109:17-18 Yes, he loved cursing, and it came to him. He didn’t delight in blessing, and it was far from him. He clothed himself also with cursing as with his garment. It came into his inward parts like water, like oil into his bones.
- Psalms 140:9 As for the head of those who surround me, let the mischief of their own lips cover them.
- Psalms 141:10 Let the wicked fall together into their own nets while I pass by.
- Matthew 21:44 He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but on whomever it will fall, it will scatter him as dust.”
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (8 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain That is, Esther.
That is, Esther.
These are the words of the king’s commandment to disannul Haman’s wicked enterprise.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Est 9:25 But when [Esther] came before the king,…
Est 9:25 But when [Esther] came before the king, he commanded by letters that his wicked device, which he devised against the Jews, should return upon his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows.
Ver. 25. But when Esther came] Heb. when she came. This was the subject of the Jews’ discourse upon those days, which they spent, not in idle chat, but in telling one another what great things the Lord had done for them; relating all the particulars. All honourable mention was then made of Esther and Mordecai; neither was Haman’s malice instanced without utmost detestation. So true is that of Solomon, Pro 10:7, "The memory of the just is blessed (or, is with praises, μετ εγκωμιων, as the Septuagint there render it); but the name of the wicked shall rot," as now doth the name of the gunpowder plotters, of Bonner, Gardiner, and other Popish persecutors. Memoria eius sicut vinum Libani, The memory of him as is the wine of Lebanon, say the Jews of those they honour (Bud. Pand.).
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Should return upon his own head] According to Psa 7:17, and haply not without allusion to those Piaculares et Abominales among the Grecians, which were certain condemned persons, on whose heads they put the public guilt, and then tumbled them into the sea, Herod. 1. 2, or else to those expiatory sacrifices amongst the Egyptians, which were first cursed by them, and then cast into the river, or sold to the Grecian merchants, in an apish imitation of the Hebrews’ scape-goat, and the day of atonement.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain The Jews ordained, and took upon them, and upon…
The Jews ordained, and took upon them, and upon their seed, and upon all such that joined themselves unto them,.... Who became proselytes to their religion; that is, they appointed the above two days as festivals, and engaged for themselves, for their children, and all proselytes, to observe them as such; and one of their canons (s) runs thus,"all are obliged to read the Megillah (the book of Esther, which they always read on those days), priests, Levites, Nethinims, Israelites, men, women, and proselytes, and servants made free, and they train up little ones to read it:"
so as it should not fail; of being observed, so as no man should transgress it, or pass it over:
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that they should keep these two days; the fourteenth and fifteenth of the month Adar or February:
according to their writing; in this book, the book of Esther, which was to be read, as Aben Ezra; written in the Hebrew character, as the Targum; that is, in the Assyrian character, as Jarchi; the square character, as they call it:
and according to their appointed time every year; whether simple or intercalated, as Aben Ezra observes: in an intercalary year the Jews have two Adars, and, though they keep the feast of Purim on the fourteenth of the first Adar, yet not with so much mirth, and call it the lesser Purim; but in the second Adar they observe it with all its ceremonies (t); so, in their canon, they do not keep Purim but in Adar that is next to Nisan or March, that redemption might be near redemption; the redemption of Mordecai near the redemption of Moses (u).
(s) Lebush & Schulchan, ib. (par. 1.) c. 689. sect. 1. (t) Vid. Buxtorf. Synagog. Jud. c. 29. p. 563. (u) Lebush, par. 1. c. 6, 7. sect. 1.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain And. Hebrew, "But when she came." Septuagint, "and how…
And. Hebrew, "But when she came." Septuagint, "and how he came to the king, asking leave to hang Mardochai. But his machinations against the Jews, turned upon his own head; and so," &c. (Haydock)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 25. When Esther came before the king — As…
25. When Esther came before the king — As the word Esther is not in the Hebrew text, and is not mentioned in the context, it is better to translate, when it came before the king, that is, when Haman’s wicked device came before the king.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 25. the matter] A.V. inserts Esther as the subject…
25. the matter] A.V. inserts Esther as the subject of the verb. In the original it is simply the feminine pronoun, which however in Heb. may also stand for the neuter.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (25) Esther.—It will be seen that in the English…
(25) Esther.—It will be seen that in the English Version this word is printed in italics. The Hebrew is literally, and on her (or its) coming. To make the pronoun refer to Esther seems harsh, seeing that she has not been mentioned for some time, and we therefore prefer to make it impersonal, “when it (i.e., the matter) came.”
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain But when Esther came before the king. Rather, "when…
But when Esther came before the king. Rather, "when the matter came before the king." It is impossible to supply a proper name which has not occurred once in the last eleven verses. We must suppose the feminine suffix attached to the verb bo, "came," to be superfluous, as it Eze_33:33. His wicked device should return upon his own head. Compare Psa_7:16. The device of Haman to massacre all the Jews turned to the destruction of the Jews" chief enemies, and of Haman himself and his sons among them.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.