Bible Strands
Esther 6:1
That night sleep escaped the king; so he ordered the Book of Records, the Chronicles, to be brought in and read to him.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator reports a moment during King Xerxes’s reign when he cannot sleep and commands his attendants to retrieve the royal chronicles. The king speaks to his servants, ordering them to bring in the Book of Records for a reading.
The words — The Hebrew phrase נָדְדָה שֵׁנָה (naddeh shenah) literally means “sleep fled” or “sleep escaped.” This idiom marks the king’s sudden insomnia and triggers his subsequent command to consult the archives.
The thread — The motif of sleep fleeing runs in Daniel 2:1 when Nebuchadnezzar’s dreams trouble his spirit, and in Daniel 6:18 where the king spends the night fasting without entertainment. Esther 2:23 also shows the parallel action of verifying and recording a past event in the same royal archives.
Why it lands — The text states that the king’s insomnia leads him to order the chronicles read, which immediately surfaces the unrecorded loyalty of Mordecai. It asks the reader to observe how a mundane royal routine becomes the mechanism for divine reversal without adding devotional commentary.
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
On that night could not the king sleep, and he commanded to bring the book of records of the chronicles; and they were read before the king.
Cross-references
- Daniel 2:1 In the second year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams that troubled his spirit, and sleep escaped him.
- Daniel 6:18 Then the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting. No entertainment was brought before him, and sleep fled from him.
- Esther 2:23 After the report had been investigated and verified, both officials were hanged on the gallows. And all this was recorded in the Book of the Chronicles in the presence of the king.
- Esther 5:8 If I have found favor in the sight of the king, and if it pleases the king to grant my petition and fulfill my request, may the king and Haman come tomorrow to the banquet I will prepare for them. Then I will answer the king’s question.”
- Isaiah 41:17 The poor and needy seek water, but there is none; their tongues are parched with thirst. I, the LORD, will answer them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.
- Romans 11:33 O, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and untraceable His ways!
- 1 Samuel 23:26 Saul was proceeding along one side of the mountain, and David and his men along the other side. Even though David was hurrying to get away, Saul and his men were closing in on David and his men to capture them.
- Esther 10:2 And all of Mordecai’s powerful and magnificent accomplishments, together with the full account of the greatness to which the king had raised him, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Media and Persia?
- Genesis 22:14 And Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. So to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.”
- Malachi 3:16 At that time those who feared the LORD spoke with one another, and the LORD listened and heard them. So a scroll of remembrance was written before Him regarding those who feared the LORD and honored His name.