So Hathach went out to Mordecai, to city square which was before the king’s gate.
Parallel translations
- KJV So Hatach went forth to Mordecai unto the street of the city, which was before the king’s gate.
- BSB So Hathach went out to Mordecai in the city square in front of the king’s gate,
- NKJV So Hathach went out to Mordecai in the city square that was in front of the king’s gate.
- NASB So Hathach went out to Mordecai in the city square, in front of the king’s gate.
- NLT So Hathach went out to Mordecai in the square in front of the palace gate.
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
Hathach goes out to Mordecai in the city square before the king's gate. The messenger carries Esther's question to her cousin.
Overview
The detail of Hathach meeting Mordecai in the open square underscores how Esther must work through intermediaries within her confined position. The faithful servant becomes a link in the chain of events. Such ordinary means, a messenger crossing a square, are the threads through which God weaves His extraordinary deliverance of His people.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 3
- Esth 4:3In every province, wherever the king’s commandment and his decree came, there was great mourning among the Jews, and fasting, and weeping, and wailing; and many lay in sackcloth and ashes.
- Esth 7:2The king said again to Esther on the second day at the banquet of wine, “What is your petition, queen Esther? It shall be granted you. What is your request? Even to the half of the kingdom it shall be performed.”
- Esth 9:12The king said to Esther the queen, “The Jews have slain and destroyed five hundred men in the citadel of Susa, including the ten sons of Haman; what then have they done in the rest of the king’s provinces! Now what is your petition? It shall be granted you. What is your further request? It shall be done.”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 4:6 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.