Bible Strands
Esther 1:22
He sent letters to all the provinces of the kingdom, to each province in its own script and to each people in their own language, proclaiming that every man should be master of his own household.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — King Ahasuerus issues a royal decree to all provinces of his empire immediately after his princes approve Memucan’s counsel. The proclamation targets every administrative region and its inhabitants.
The words — The text records that the king sent (וַיִּשְׁלַח, va.yish.lach) documents (סְפָרִים, sefarim) to the provinces (מְדִינֹת, medinoth) of the kingdom. These terms denote the formal dispatch of written orders across imperial territories.
The thread — Royal correspondence follows this administrative pattern in Esther 3:12 and Esther 8:9, where scribes draft and dispatch imperial edicts. The household authority theme later appears in Ephesians 5:22 regarding marital submission.
Why it lands — The decree establishes patriarchal authority as a political standard across the empire. Readers must recognize how state power enforces domestic hierarchy without moral endorsement.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
For he sent letters into all the king’s provinces, into every province according to the writing thereof, and to every people after their language, that every man should bear rule in his own house, and that it should be published according to the language of every people.
Cross-references
- Esther 3:12 On the thirteenth day of the first month, the royal scribes were summoned and the order was written exactly as Haman commanded the royal satraps, the governors of each province, and the officials of each people, in the script of each province and the language of every people. It was written in the name of King Xerxes and sealed with the royal signet ring.
- Esther 8:9 At once the royal scribes were summoned, and on the twenty-third day of the third month (the month of Sivan), they recorded all of Mordecai’s orders to the Jews and to the satraps, governors, and princes of the 127 provinces from India to Cush—writing to each province in its own script, to every people in their own language, and to the Jews in their own script and language.
- Ephesians 5:22 Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord.
- 1 Timothy 2:12 I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; she is to remain quiet.
- Daniel 3:29 Therefore I decree that the people of any nation or language who say anything offensive against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego will be cut into pieces and their houses reduced to rubble. For there is no other god who can deliver in this way.”
- Daniel 4:1 King Nebuchadnezzar, To the people of every nation and language who dwell in all the earth: May your prosperity be multiplied.
- Luke 16:8 The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the sons of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the sons of light.
- Acts 2:5 Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven.
- 1 Corinthians 14:19 But in the church, I would rather speak five coherent words to instruct others than ten thousand words in a tongue.
- Titus 2:4 In this way they can train the young women to love their husbands and children,