The Jews had light, and gladness, and joy, and honour.
Parallel translations
- WEB The Jews had light, gladness, joy, and honor.
- BSB For the Jews it was a time of light and gladness, of joy and honor.
- NKJV The Jews had light and gladness, joy and honor.
- NASB For the Jews there was light, joy, jubilation, and honor.
- NLT The Jews were filled with joy and gladness and were honored everywhere.
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 Jews experience light, gladness, joy, and honor. Their sorrow is turned to rejoicing.
Overview
The fourfold description captures the complete transformation of the Jews' condition from mourning to celebration. 'Light' here pictures relief, well-being, and salvation after the darkness of impending doom. The verse beautifully conveys the joy of deliverance, foreshadowing the light and gladness God brings to His people through His saving acts.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Ps 97:11Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart.
- Prov 11:10When it goeth well with the righteous, the city rejoiceth: and when the wicked perish, there is shouting.
- Ps 18:28For thou wilt light my candle: the LORD my God will enlighten my darkness.
- Esth 4:1–3When Mordecai perceived all that was done, Mordecai rent his clothes, and put on sackcloth with ashes, and went out into the midst of the city, and cried with a loud and a bitter cry;
- Ps 30:5–11For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.
- Esth 9:17On the thirteenth day of the month Adar; and on the fourteenth day of the same rested they, and made it a day of feasting and gladness.
- Isa 35:10And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
- Ps 112:4Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness: he is gracious, and full of compassion, and righteous.
- Isa 30:29–30Ye shall have a song, as in the night when a holy solemnity is kept; and gladness of heart, as when one goeth with a pipe to come into the mountain of the LORD, to the mighty One of Israel.
- Esth 4:16Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: I also and my maidens will fast likewise; and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish.
- Prov 4:18–19But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.
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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 8:16 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.