Esther 5:7 — Word Study
WLCוַתַּ֥עַן אֶסְתֵּ֖ר וַתֹּאמַ֑ר שְׁאֵלָתִ֖י וּבַקָּשָׁתִֽי׃
BSAEstherʼEçtêr [the brave Jewish queen] repliedʻânâh▸ This is my petitionshᵉʼêlâh [personal, heartfelt, request, prayer] and my requestbaqqâshâh [humble, sincere, plea, supplication]
| Greek | English | Parsing |
|---|---|---|
| וַתַּ֥עַן | and she answered | Verb, Qal, sequential imperfect third person feminine singular |
| אֶסְתֵּ֖ר | Esther | Noun proper feminine |
| וַתֹּאמַ֑ר | and she said | Verb, Qal, sequential imperfect third person feminine singular |
| שְׁאֵלָתִ֖י | petition my | Noun common feminine singular construct, suffix |
| וּבַקָּשָׁתִֽי׃ | and request my | Conjunction, noun common feminine singular construct, suffix |
Every word in the verse. Click a row to open it in the panel on the left.
| BSB | Esther replied, “This is my petition and my request: |
| KJV | Then answered Esther, and said, My petition and my request is; |
| ASV | Then answered Esther, and said, My petition and my request is: |
| YLT | And Esther answereth and saith, 'My petition and my request [is]: |
| WEB | Then Esther answered and said, “My petition and my request is this. |
| BBE | Then Esther said in answer, My prayer and my request is this: |
Where they part company is שְׁאֵלָתִי — see How Translations Differ.
The sentence is straightforward, with Esther's reply forming the main focus of the verse.
4 commentators on this verse
Gill, Jamieson, Trapp, Cambridge & more — read them ›
clause
subjectאֶסְתֵּר
verbעָנָה
The sentence as the grammar sees it Open the tree ›
Every word here is used elsewhere in the Old Testament.
Bars are logarithmic — אֵת, the commonest word in the Hebrew Bible, stands about 11,000 times, so a linear scale would leave everything else invisible. Click a row to open that word.
Deep Study — Esther 5:7
Sections marked generated are written from the data on this page rather than by a named author. Everything else — the lexicon entries, the cross references, the manuscript readings, the counts — is quoted from its source unchanged.
Context — Esther's Petition to the Kinggenerated
Esther 5:7 captures a crucial moment where Esther, having been asked by the king about her desires, takes the opportunity to express her heartfelt requests. This is part of a larger narrative where Esther courageously advocates for her people, showing both her bravery and her strategic thinking in a perilous situation. The context highlights the tension and significance of her role as queen and protector of the Jewish people.
Cross References
The Key Word — שְׁאֵלָתִי, she.'e.la.Tigenerated
The word שְׁאֵלָה (*sh'elah*) refers to a petition or request, derived from a root meaning to ask. It emphasizes the act of making a formal request, often in a serious context. In this verse, it indicates Esther's earnest appeal to the king, showcasing her vulnerability and determination.
This noun is in the feminine singular construct form, indicating a personal and specific request. The presence of the suffix highlights that this is Esther's own petition, making it clear that she is speaking from her heart.
How Translations Differ — measured against the Berean Standard Biblegenerated
This study reads the verse in the Berean Standard Bible, so the BSB is the wording every comparison below is made against.
Sentence Structuregenerated
The verse consists of a main clause with two verbs: וַתַּ֥עַן (and she answered) and וַתֹּאמַ֑ר (and she said), both governed by the subject אֶסְתֵּ֖ר (Esther). The structure highlights Esther's dual actions of answering and stating her requests.
The Hebrew word order places emphasis on Esther's response first, followed by her specific requests, which indicates the importance of her words in the context of the king's inquiry.
Septuagint Backgroundgenerated
The Septuagint does not provide a direct translation for this verse, but the Greek word for וַתֹּאמַ֑ר is εἶπεν, meaning 'she said.' This choice reflects a straightforward rendering of Esther's speech without additional embellishment.
The absence of a direct translation for שְׁאֵלָתִי suggests that the translators may have interpreted the request in a broader context, focusing on the act of speaking rather than the specifics of the petition.
In plain words — the whole versegenerated
Esther 5:7 shows Esther responding to the king by stating her heartfelt petition and request. She is making a sincere appeal for something important, reflecting her bravery and the gravity of her situation.
Frequently Asked Questionsgenerated
Esther is expressing her personal and heartfelt appeal to the king, indicating that she has a specific need or desire that she wishes to communicate.
Esther's response is significant because it demonstrates her courage in approaching the king and her strategic planning in advocating for her people.
Esther's background as a Jewish woman in a foreign palace gives her request added weight, as she is not only asking for herself but also for the safety and well-being of her entire people.
Esther's approach teaches us the importance of being bold and sincere when making requests, especially when the stakes are high.
Reflection Questionsgenerated
- What are some personal petitions I can bring before God with sincerity?
- How can I show courage in advocating for others, like Esther did?
- In what situations do I need to be more strategic in my requests?
- How can I ensure my requests reflect my true heart and intentions?
Commentators on this verse — 4 expositors, verse by verse
Each of these wrote on Esther 5:7 itself, not merely on the chapter around it.
John Gill1697–1771Gill's Exposition of the Entire BibleThen answered Esther and said, my petition and my request is. What she should for the present make; the principal one she had to ask, for wise reasons, she still deferred.
Read John Gill on Esther 5 →Robert Jamieson1802–1880Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown's CommentaryThen the king said, Cause Haman to make haste, that he may do as Esther hath said. So the king and Haman came to the banquet that Esther had prepared. No JFB commentary on these verses.
Read Robert Jamieson on Esther 5 →John Trapp1601–1669Trapp's Complete Commentary on the Old and New TestamentsEsther 5:7 Then answered Esther, and said, My petition and my request [is];Ver. 7. My petition and my request is] She speaks to the king in his own very words: and so must we if we mean to speed in heaven. Take unto you words, and say, Take away all iniquity, and give good, &c. Produce God’ s own words in prayer, and say, as she did to Judah, "Whose are these?" Genesis 38:25. He loves to be set upon in his own words, to be pressed with his promise, to be sued upon his bond. This David knew, and therefore cries, Psalms 86:11, "Unite my heart to fear thy name": it is as if he should say, Thou hast promised, Lord, to give me one heart, Ezekiel 11:19; behold, I find mine heart divided, my…
Read John Trapp on Esther 5 →CambridgeThe Cambridge Bible for Schools and CollegesChap. Esther 5:1-8. Esther’s interview with the king Esther is received graciously. The king, however, obviously guesses that she has an important object to gain in thus presenting herself, and so enquires the nature of her request. She is careful not to add to the difficulties of her position by anything like precipitancy in revealing her desire. She will shape her plans so as to secure the most favourable moment for preferring her petition.
Read Cambridge on Esther 5 →The verse in English, compared — 17 translations, and where they part company
Every translation on this page is a decision someone had to make and commit to. Read down a column and you see one translator's judgement; read across a row and you see the range the Greek actually allows. The BSB is the wording the rest of this page is measured against, so it is listed first.
Modern formal
Esther replied, “This is my petition and my request:
Then Esther answered and said, “My petition and my request is this.
Esther replied, “This is my petition and my request:
Esther responded, “My request and my petition is this:
Tyndale line
Then answered Esther, and said, My petition and my request is;
Then answered Esther, and said, My petition and my request is:
Then answered Esther, and said, My petition and my request is;
Then answered Esther, and said, My petition and my request is :
Then answered Ester, and sayd, My petition and my request is,
Strictly literal
And Esther answered and said, My petition and my request is,
And Esther answereth and saith, 'My petition and my request [is]:
And Esther answers and says, “My petition and my request [is]:
Then answered Esther, and said, My petition and my request are,
Esther answered, “My petition and my request is this,
From the Latin
And Esther answered: My petition and request is this:
Simplified
Esther answered, “This is what I'm asking for, and this is what I want.
Then Esther said in answer, My prayer and my request is this:
Counted from the translations carried on this site, not from a survey of every English Bible. A rendering shared by many versions is usually inherited rather than independently arrived at — the Tyndale line in particular runs through most of them.
The sentence as the grammar sees it — from the MACULA Hebrew treebank
This is not our own analysis: it is the scholarly syntax tree for the verse, showing how the clause actually holds together.
Boxes are the grammarian's groupings — clause, noun phrase, prepositional phrase.
The four witnesses to this verse — Masoretic, Septuagint, Samaritan, Qumran
The Masoretic Text and the Septuagint agree on the wording of this verse, with all five Hebrew words matched in the Greek translation. This consistency indicates a shared understanding of Esther's response and her requests.
וַתַּ֥עַן אֶסְתֵּ֖ר וַתֹּאמַ֑ר שְׁאֵלָתִ֖י וּבַקָּשָׁתִֽי׃
5 of the 5 words are matched. This is the word-by-word correspondence, not the Septuagint's own sentence — its word order and its articles are its own.
Four traditions, not one. “On the leather” means the letters physically survive on the scroll, as against letters an editor has supplied to fill a hole in it — a restoration is a scholar’s reading, not a reading of the manuscript. Words in [square brackets] are supplied; the notes count them apart from what survives.
The map of this verse — what each word keeps company with
This is a map of two things, both counted rather than judged. Company kept: which words stand within three words of each of these, anywhere in the Hebrew Bible — the thicker the line, the more often the pair meet compared with chance. Built from: the words a word is made out of, taken from its own Strong’s entry. It is not a map of meaning: nothing here claims two words mean the same thing. Click any circle to see the numbers behind it.
Lexicons — every word in Esther 5:7
One dossier per word, with every reference work grouped by kind — Hebrew lexicons, morphology, Bible dictionaries, topical chains and the English of the translators themselves. The verse sits at the head of each block with the word under study lit, so you never lose your place. The panel above gives the short answer; this is the long one, and it is the part of the page worth indexing.
Every entry below is the lexicographer's own text. On the Hebrew: Brown-Driver-Briggs entire and its gloss set, Strong's Hebrew Dictionary, and Tyndale House's Translators Brief lexicon. Where a cell says a work has no entry, that work genuinely has none for this word.
The Hebrew word עָנָה (*anah*) is built from a primitive root meaning to heed or pay attention, covering a range of meanings including to answer, respond, testify, and sing. It appears in contexts where one responds to speech or circumstances, and can also refer to singing. The lexicons indicate that it can imply both verbal responses and musical expression.
[עוּן] vb. dwell
base
עָנָה 316 vb. answer, respond
Qal
answer, respond to sthg. said, actual or implied
respond to an occasion, speak in view of circumstances
money meets all demands
specif. respond as a witness, testify
less oft. make response as one accused (respondent)
Niph.
make answer
be answered
Hiph. wholly dub.; causes all things to respond in the joy of his heart
base
עָנָה vb. sing
Qal sing, utter tunefully
Pi. sing sweetly of it
base
H6030a עוּן dwell H6030b עָנָה answer, respond .. answer, respond to sthg. said, actual or implied
. . respond to an occasion, speak in view of circumstances
. money meets all demands
. . specif. respond as a witness, testify
. less oft. make response as one accused (respondent)
. . make answer
. be answered
. wholly dub.; causes all things to respond in the joy of his heart
H6030c עָנָה sing
6030 `anah aw-naw'
a primitive root; properly, to eye or (generally) to heed,
i.e. pay attention; by implication, to respond; by extens. to
begin to speak; specifically to sing, shout, testify,
announce:--give account, afflict (by mistake for 6031),
(cause to, give) answer, bring low (by mistake for 6031), cry,
hear, Leannoth, lift up, say, X scholar, (give a) shout, sing
(together by course), speak, testify, utter, (bear) witness.
See also 1042, 1043.
see HEBREW for 06031
see HEBREW for 06031
see HEBREW for 01042
see HEBREW for 01043
עוּן (un) — to dwell.
(Qal) to dwell
עָנָה (a.nah) — to answer.
1) to answer, respond, testify, speak, shout
1a) (Qal)
1a1) to answer, respond to
1a2) to testify, respond as a witness
1b) (Niphal)
1b1) to make answer
1b2) to be answered, receive answer
Aramaic equivalent: a.nah (עֲנָה "to answer" H6032)
עָנָה (a.nah) — to sing.
(Qal) to sing, utter tunefully
Conj | V-Qal-ConsecImperf-3fs — Verb · Qal · sequential imperfect third person feminine singularHc/Vqw3fs
אֶסְתֵּר (es-ter) refers to Esther, a Jewish heroine and queen of Persia, known for her pivotal role in the Book of Esther. She is described as the daughter of Abihail and the cousin and adopted daughter of Mordecai. The name is of Persian origin and means 'star.' Esther is first mentioned in Est. 2.7.
אֶסְתֵּר n.pr.f. Esther—daughter of Abihail, cousin and adopted daughter of Mordecai, of tribe of Benjamin; made queen in Vashti’s place by Ahasuerus
base
H635 אֶסְתֵּר
635 'Ecter es-tare'
of Persian derivation; Ester, the Jewish heroine:--Esther.
אֶסְתֵּר (es.ter) — Esther.
A woman living at the time of Exile and Return, first mentioned at Est.2.7;
daughter of: Abihail (H0032K); also called Hadassah at Est.2.7;
Also named: ha.das.sah (הֲדַסָּה "Hadassah" H1919)
§ Esther = "star"
the queen of Persia, heroine of the book of Esther-daughter of Abihail, cousin and adopted daughter of Mordecai, of the tribe of Benjamin, made queen by king Ahasuerus to replace divorced queen, Vashti.
N-proper — Noun proper feminineHNpf
es'-ter ('ecter, akin to the Zend tstara, the Sanskrit stri, the Greek aster, "a star," Esther):
Esther was a Jewish orphan, who became the queen of Xerxes, in some respects the greatest of the Persian kings. She was brought up at Susa by her cousin Mordecai, who seems to have held a position among the lower officials of the royal palace. Vashti, Xerxes' former queen, was divorced; and the most beautiful virgins from all the provinces of the empire were brought to the palace of Susa that the king might select her successor. The choice fell upon the Jewish maiden. Soon after her accession a great crisis occurred in the history of the Jews. The entire people was threatened with destruction. The name of Esther is forever bound up with the record of their deliverance. By a course of action which gives her a distinguished place among the women of the Bible, the great enemy of the Jews was…
Esther
The queen of Ahasuerus, and heroine of the book that bears her name. She was a Jewess named Hadas’sah (the myrtle), but when she entered the royal harem she received the name by which she henceforth became known (Esther 2:7). It is a Syro-Arabian modification of the Persian word satarah, which means a star. She was the daughter of Abihail, a Benjamite. Her family did not avail themselves of the permission granted by Cyrus to the exiles to return to Jerusalem; and she resided with her cousin Mordecai, who held some office in the household of the Persian king at “Shushan in the palace.” Ahasuerus having divorced Vashti, chose Esther to be his wife. Soon after this he gave Haman the Agagite, his prime minister, power and authority to kill and extirpate all the Jews throughout the Persian empire. By the interposition of Esther this…
(a star), the Persian name of HADASSAH (myrtle), daughter of Abihail, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite. Esther was a beautiful Jewish maiden. She was an orphan, and had been brought up by her cousin Mordecai, who had an office in the household of Ahasuerus king of Persia --supposed to be the Xerxes of history-- and dwelt at "Shushan the palace." When Vashti was dismissed from being queen, the king chose Esther to the place on account of her beauty, not knowing her race or parentage; and on the representation of Haman the Agagite that the Jews scattered through his empire were pernicious race, he gave him full power and authority to kill them all. The means taken by Esther to avert this great calamity from her people and her kindred are fully related in the book of Esther. The Jews still commemorate this deliverance in the yearly festival Purim, on the 14th and 15th of…
A Persian name given to Hadassah, a daughter of Abihail, of the tribe of Benjamin. The family had not returned to Judea after the permission given by Cyrus, and she was born probably beyond the Tigris, and nearly five hundred years before Christ. Her parents being dead, Mordecai, her father’s brother, took care of her education. After Ahasuerus had discovered Vashti, search was made throughout Persia for the most beautiful women, and Esther was one selected. She found favor in the eyes of the king, and he married her with royal magnificence, bestowing largesses and remissions of tribute on his people. She was thus in a position which enabled her to do a signal favor to her people, then very numerous in Persia. Their deliverance is still celebrated by the Jews in the yearly festival called Purim, which was instituted at that time. The husband of Esther is supposed to have been the Xerxes…
אָמַר (amar) is a Hebrew verb meaning 'to say' or 'to utter,' with a broad range of uses including to promise, command, or even boast. It appears in various forms, such as in the Qal (to say), Niphal (to be told), and Hiphil (to avow). The entries highlight its versatility in both spoken and internal contexts, though no specific verse is noted.
אָמַר 5287 vb. utter, say
Qal
Say
Say in the heart (= think)
Promise
Command (esp. late)
Niph. be said, told
Hiph. avow, avouch (lit. cause to declare)
Hithp. act proudly, boast
base
H559 אָמַר utter, say .. Say
. Say in the heart (= think)
. Promise
. Command (esp. late)
. be said, told
. avow, avouch (lit. cause to declare)
. act proudly, boast
559 'amar aw-mar'
a primitive root; to say (used with great
latitude):--answer, appoint, avouch, bid, boast self, call,
certify, challenge, charge, + (at the, give) command(-ment),
commune, consider, declare, demand, X desire, determine, X
expressly, X indeed, X intend, name, X plainly, promise,
publish, report, require, say, speak (against, of), X still, X
suppose, talk, tell, term, X that is, X think, use (speech),
utter, X verily, X yet.
אָמַר (a.mar) — to say.
1) to say, speak, utter
1a) (Qal) to say, to answer, to say in one's heart, to think, to command, to promise, to intend
1b) (Niphal) to be told, to be said, to be called
1c) (Hithpael) to boast, to act proudly
1d) (Hiphil) to avow, to avouch
Aramaic equivalent: a.mar (אֲמַר "to say" H0560)
Hc/Vqw3fs — Verb · Qal · sequential imperfect third person feminine singularHc/Vqw3fs
שְׁאֵלָה, transliterated as sh'elah, refers to a petition or request. It can denote something asked for or demanded, and is derived from the root meaning to ask. The term appears in contexts related to requests and loans, with an Aramaic equivalent noted. Strong's entry highlights its use in 1 Samuel 1:17.
שְׁאֵלָה, [I. שֵׁלָה] n.f. request, thing asked for
base
H7596 שְׁאֵלָה, שֵׁלָה
7596 sh'elah sheh-ay-law'
or shelah (1 Samuel 1:17) {shay-law'}; from 7592; a petition;
by implication, a loan:--loan, petition, request.
see HEBREW for 07592
שְׁאֵלָה (she.e.lah) — petition.
1) request, thing asked for, demand
1a) request, petition
1b) thing asked for
Aramaic equivalent: she.e.la (שְׁאֵלָא "affair" H7595)
N-fs | Suff — Noun common feminine singular construct · suffixHNcfsc/Sp1bs
בַּקָּשָׁה (baqqashah) means a request or petition. It is derived from the root word בָּקַשׁ (baqash), which relates to seeking or asking for something. The term emphasizes the act of making a request or entreaty.
[בַּקָּשָׁה] n.m. request, entreaty
base
H1246 בַּקָּשָׁה
1246 baqqashah bak-kaw-shaw'
from 1245; a petition:--request.
see HEBREW for 01245
בַּקָּשָׁה (baq.qa.shah) — request.
request, entreaty, petition
Conj | N-fs | Suff — Conjunction · noun common feminine singular construct · suffixHC/Ncfsc/Sp1bs