The day chosen for this event throughout all the provinces of King Xerxes was March 7 of the next year.
Parallel translations
- WEB on one day in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar.
- KJV Upon one day in all the provinces of king Ahasuerus, namely, upon the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar.
- BSB The single day appointed throughout all the provinces of King Xerxes was the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar.
- NKJV on one day in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month of Adar.
- NASB on one day in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month (that is, the month Adar).
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
The right of self-defense is set for the thirteenth day of Adar, the very day appointed for the Jews' destruction. The day of doom becomes the day of deliverance.
Overview
The counter-decree designates the same date Haman had chosen for annihilation, transforming it into a day of rescue. The fixed timing heightens the dramatic reversal at the heart of the book. What was meant for the Jews' ruin is providentially turned to their salvation.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 4
- Esth 9:1Now in the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, on the thirteenth day of the month, when the king’s commandment and his decree came near to be put in execution, on the day that the enemies of the Jews hoped to conquer them, (but it was turned out the opposite happened, that the Jews conquered those who hated them),
- Esth 3:13–15Letters were sent by couriers into all the king’s provinces, to destroy, to kill, and to cause to perish, all Jews, both young and old, little children and women, in one day, even on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, and to plunder their possessions.
- Judg 1:6–7But Adoni-Bezek fled. They pursued him, caught him, and cut off his thumbs and his big toes.
- Exod 15:9–10The enemy said, ‘I will pursue. I will overtake. I will divide the plunder. My desire shall be satisfied on them. I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them.’
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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 8:12 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.