Mordecai sent this reply to Esther: “Don’t think for a moment that because you’re in the palace you will escape when all other Jews are killed.
Parallel translations
- WEB Then Mordecai asked them return answer to Esther, “Don’t think to yourself that you will escape in the king’s house any more than all the Jews.
- KJV Then Mordecai commanded to answer Esther, Think not with thyself that thou shalt escape in the king’s house, more than all the Jews.
- BSB he sent back to her this reply: “Do not imagine that because you are in the king’s palace you alone will escape the fate of all the Jews.
- NKJV And Mordecai told them to answer Esther: “Do not think in your heart that you will escape in the king’s palace any more than all the other Jews.
- NASB Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, “Do not imagine that you in the king’s palace can escape any more than all the other Jews.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Mordecai warns Esther not to imagine that her place in the palace will spare her from the decree against the Jews. Her safety is bound up with her people's.
Overview
Mordecai cuts through any illusion that royal status can shield Esther from Haman's edict, which targets every Jew. His words press her to see that self-preservation through silence is itself a deadly gamble. The verse underscores the solidarity of God's covenant people, who share both danger and deliverance together, pointing toward the truth that salvation comes through identification with, not separation from, God's people.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 5
- Prov 24:10–12If you falter in the time of trouble, your strength is small.
- Phil 2:30because for the work of Christ he came near to death, risking his life to supply that which was lacking in your service toward me.
- John 12:25He who loves his life will lose it. He who hates his life in this world will keep it to eternal life.
- Heb 12:3For consider him who has endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, that you don’t grow weary, fainting in your souls.
- Matt 16:24–25Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Though God is never named, his hidden hand preserves the people from whom the Messiah will come — a deliverance 'for such a time as this' that anticipates the open deliverance of Christ.
How Esther 4:13 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.