Esther 8:10

Contemporary English Version

They were written in the name of King Xerxes and sealed with his ring. Then they were taken by messengers who rode the king's finest and fastest horses.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Mordecai wrote in King Ahasuerus’s name and sealed the edicts with the royal signet ring. He sent the documents by mounted couriers, who rode fast horses bred in the royal stables.

Hebrew Names Version
He wrote the name of king Achashverosh, and sealed it with the king's ring, and sent letters by post on horseback, riding on swift steeds that were used in the king's service, bred of the stud:

King James Version
And he wrote in the king Ahasuerus' name, and sealed it with the king's ring, and sent letters by posts on horseback, and riders on mules, camels, and young dromedaries:

English Standard Version
And he wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed it with the king's signet ring. Then he sent the letters by mounted couriers riding on swift horses that were used in the king's service, bred from the royal stud,

New Century Version
Mordecai wrote orders in the name of King Xerxes and sealed the letters with the king's signet ring. Then he sent the king's orders by messengers on fast horses, horses that were raised just for the king.

New English Translation
Mordecai wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed it with the king's signet ring. He then sent letters by couriers on horses, who rode royal horses that were very swift.

Amplified Bible
He wrote [a decree] in the name of King Ahasuerus, and sealed it with the king's ring, and sent letters by couriers on horseback, riding on the royal [mail] relay horses, the offspring of the racing mares.

New American Standard Bible
He wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus, and sealed it with the king's signet ring, and sent letters by couriers on horses, riding on royal relay horses, offspring of racing mares.

World English Bible
He wrote the name of king Ahasuerus, and sealed it with the king's ring, and sent letters by post on horseback, riding on swift steeds that were used in the king's service, bred of the stud:

Geneva Bible (1587)
And hee wrote in the King Ahashuerosh name, and sealed it with the Kings ring: and he sent letters by postes on horsebacke and that rode on beastes of price, as dromedaries and coltes of mares.

Legacy Standard Bible
And he wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed it with the king's signet ring and sent letters by the hand of couriers on horses, riding on steeds sired by the royal stud.

Berean Standard Bible
Mordecai wrote in the name of King Xerxes and sealed it with the royal signet ring. He sent the documents by mounted couriers riding on swift horses bred from the royal mares.

Complete Jewish Bible
They wrote in the name of King Achashverosh and sealed it with the king's signet ring; they sent the letters by couriers on horseback riding fast horses used in the king's service and bred from the royal stock.

Darby Translation
And he wrote in the name of king Ahasuerus, and sealed [it] with the king's ring, and sent letters by couriers on horseback riding on coursers, horses of blood reared in the breeding studs:

Easy-to-Read Version
Mordecai wrote commands by the authority of King Xerxes. Then he sealed the letters with the king's ring and sent them by messengers on horses. The messengers rode fast horses, which were raised especially for the king.

George Lamsa Translation
And the letters were written in the name of King Akhshirash and sealed with the kings ring, and they were sent by runners and by riders of horses and by dromedaries.

Good News Translation
Mordecai had the letters written in the name of King Xerxes, and he stamped them with the royal seal. They were delivered by riders mounted on fast horses from the royal stables.

Lexham English Bible
And he wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus, and he sealed the letters with the king's signet ring and sent them by couriers on horses, riding on royal horses bred by racing mares.

Literal Translation
And he wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus, and sealed with the king's ring. And he sent letters by riders on horses, riders on stallions, mules, even sons of mares.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
And it was written in the kynge Ahasuerus name, and sealed with the kynges rynge. And by postes that rode vpon swyfte yonge Mules, sent he the wrytinges,

American Standard Version
And he wrote the name of king Ahasuerus, and sealed it with the king's ring, and sent letters by posts on horseback, riding on swift steeds that were used in the king's service, bred of the stud:

Bible in Basic English
The letters were sent in the name of King Ahasuerus and stamped with his ring, and they were taken by men on horseback, going on the quick-running horses used for the king's business, the offspring of his best horses:

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And he wrote in the king Ahasuerus name, & sealed it with the kinges ring, and by postes that rode vpon horses, and swyft young Mules, sent he the writinges,

JPS Old Testament (1917)
And they wrote in the name of king Ahasuerus, and sealed it with the king's ring, and sent letters by posts on horseback, riding on swift steeds that were used in the king's service, bred of the stud;

King James Version (1611)
And he wrote in the king Ahasuerus name, and sealed it with the kings Ring, and sent letters by Postes, on horsebacke, and riders on mules, camels, and yong dromedaries:

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And they were written by order of the king, and sealed with his ring, and they sent the letters by the posts:

English Revised Version
And he wrote in the name of king Ahasuerus, and sealed it with the king's ring, and sent letters by posts on horseback, riding on swift steeds that were used in the king's service, bred of the stud:

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And tho pistlis, that weren sent `bi the kyngis name, weren aseelid with his ryng, and sent bi messangeris, whiche runnen aboute bi alle prouynces, and camen with newe messagis bifor the elde lettris.

Update Bible Version
And he wrote the name of king Ahasuerus, and sealed it with the king's ring, and sent letters by post on horseback, riding on swift steeds that were used in the king's service, bred of the stud:

Webster's Bible Translation
And he wrote in the king Ahasuerus's name, and sealed [it] with the king's ring, and sent letters by posts on horseback, [and] riders on mules, camels, [and] young dromedaries:

New King James Version
And he wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus, sealed it with the king's signet ring, and sent letters by couriers on horseback, riding on royal horses bred from swift steeds. [fn]

New Living Translation
The decree was written in the name of King Xerxes and sealed with the king's signet ring. Mordecai sent the dispatches by swift messengers, who rode fast horses especially bred for the king's service.

New Life Bible
He wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus and marked it with the king's special ring. He sent the letters by men on fast horses used in the king's work, raised from the king's best male horse.

New Revised Standard
He wrote letters in the name of King Ahasuerus, sealed them with the king's ring, and sent them by mounted couriers riding on fast steeds bred from the royal herd.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
and he wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus, and sealed it with the king's signet-ring, - and sent letters by the hand of runners on horses, riding the swift steeds used in the kings service, bred of the stud:

Douay-Rheims Bible
And these letters which were sent in the king’s name, were sealed with his ring, and sent by posts: who were to run through all the provinces, to prevent the former letters with new messages.

Revised Standard Version
The writing was in the name of King Ahasu-e'rus and sealed with the king's ring, and letters were sent by mounted couriers riding on swift horses that were used in the king's service, bred from the royal stud.

Young's Literal Translation
And he writeth in the name of the king Ahasuerus, and sealeth with the signet of the king, and sendeth letters by the hand of the runners with horses, riders of the dromedary, the mules, the young mares,

THE MESSAGE
He wrote under the name of King Xerxes and sealed the order with the royal signet ring; he sent out the bulletins by couriers on horseback, riding the fastest royal steeds bred from the royal stud.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
He wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus, and sealed it with the king's signet ring, and sent letters by couriers on horses, riding on steeds sired by the royal stud.

Contextual Overview

³ Once again Esther went to speak to the king. This time she fell down at his feet, crying and begging, "Please stop Haman's evil plan to have the Jews killed!" ⁴ King Xerxes held out the golden scepter to Esther, ⁵ and she got up and said, "Your Majesty, I know that you will do the right thing and that you really love me. Please stop what Haman has planned. He has already sent letters demanding that the Jews in all your provinces be killed, ⁶ and I can't bear to see my people and my own relatives destroyed." ⁷ King Xerxes then said to Esther and Mordecai, "I have already ordered Haman to be hanged and his house given to Esther, because of his evil plans to kill the Jews. ⁸ I now give you permission to make a law that will save the lives of your people. You may use my ring to seal the law, so that it can never be changed." ⁹ On the twenty-third day of Sivan, the third month, the king's secretaries wrote the law. They obeyed Mordecai and wrote to the Jews, the rulers, the governors, and the officials of all one hundred twenty-seven provinces from India to Ethiopia. The letters were written in every language used in the kingdom, including the Jewish language. ¹⁰ They were written in the name of King Xerxes and sealed with his ring. Then they were taken by messengers who rode the king's finest and fastest horses. ¹¹In these letters the king said: On the thirteenth day of Adar, the twelfth month, the Jews in every city and province will be allowed to get together and defend themselves. They may destroy any army that attacks them, and they may kill all of their enemies, including women and children. They may also take everything that belongs to their enemies. A copy of this law is to be posted in every province and read by everyone. ¹⁴Then the king ordered his messengers to take their fastest horses and deliver the law as quickly as possible to every province. When Mordecai left, he was wearing clothes fit for a king. He wore blue and white robes, a large gold crown, and a cape made of fine linen and purple cloth. After the law was announced in Susa, everyone shouted and cheered,

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

in the king: 1 Kings 21:8, Ecclesiastes 8:4, Daniel 4:1

by posts: Esther 3:13, 2 Chronicles 30:6, Job 9:25, Jeremiah 51:21

mules: Rechesh, in Syriac, rechesha, probably denotes a swift horse.

camels: Achashteranim, from the Persian akhash, large, and aster, a mule, probably, as Bochart supposes, denotes a large mule.

young dromedaries: Beney harammachim, "the sons of mares," as the word ramakat denotes in Arabic; probably an expletive of the preceeding word. Isaiah 60:6, Isaiah 66:20, Jeremiah 2:23

Reciprocal: Genesis 24:61 - they rode Genesis 41:42 - his ring 1 Kings 4:28 - dromedaries 1 Kings 10:25 - and mules 2 Chronicles 30:10 - the posts Esther 3:12 - sealed Esther 9:29 - confirm Jeremiah 51:31 - post Daniel 6:8 - establish

Cross-References

Genesis 7:4
Seven days from now I will send rain that will last for forty days and nights, and I will destroy all other living creatures I have made.

Genesis 7:10
Seven days later a flood began to cover the earth.

Genesis 8:12
He waited seven more days before sending the dove out again, and this time it did not return.

Psalms 40:1

(A psalm by David for the music leader.)

I patiently waited, Lord , for you to hear my prayer. You listened

Isaiah 8:17
Meanwhile, I patiently trust the Lord , even though he is no longer pleased with Israel.

Isaiah 26:8
You are the one we trust to bring about justice; above all else we want your name to be honored.

Romans 8:25
However, we hope for something we have not yet seen, and we patiently wait for it.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And he wrote in the King Ahasuerus' name, and sealed it with the king's ring,.... Which gave the letters authority, and made them irreversible, and for this Mordecai had the king's order, Esther 8:8

and sent letters by post; by runners or couriers:

on horseback; that rode on horses that were racers, that ran swiftly:

and riders on mules, camels, and young dromedaries; which were all different creatures, and swift ones, according to our version, especially the latter; see Jeremiah 2:23 which were a kind of camels, but swifter, and would go more than one hundred miles a day a; and, as Diodorus Siculus says b, not less than 1500 furlongs or about two hundred miles: though it may be only one sort are meant, namely, "mules", for the next word, "ahashteranim", in the Persian language signifies mules c, and so Aben Ezra interprets it, and likewise Kimchi and Ben Melech; and the last words may be rendered "sons of mares", so David de Pomis; that is, such mules as are gendered by he asses and mares: and so the same writer observes, that the word in the Arabic language signifies "mares"; and such mules that come from them he says are stronger than those that come from she asses; so that the whole may be rendered to this sense, "riders on mules", (which in the Persian language are called "ahashteranim",) namely, such as are "sons of mares"; and which according to Aelianus d and Pliny e are the swiftest; though the Persians had camels swifter than are common elsewhere, called "revatrie", the "goer", which trot as fast as an horse can gallop f.

a Isidor. Origin. l. 12. c. 1. Vid. Strabo Geograph. l. 15. p. 498. b Bibliothec. l. 19. p. 683. c Castell. Dictionar. Persic. col. 29. Hottinger. Smegma Oriental l. 1. c. 5. p. 75. d De Animal. l. 16. c. 9. e Nat. Hist. l. 8. c. 44. f Universal History, vol. 5. p. 88.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Riders on mules, camels and young dromedaries - Most moderns translate “riders upon coursers and mules, the offspring of mares;” but the words translated “mules” and “mares,” are of very doubtful signification, since they scarcely occur elsewhere. The real meaning of the clause must remain doubtful; perhaps the true translation is, “riders upon coursers of the king’s stud, offspring of high-bred steeds.” So Esther 8:14.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Esther 8:10. On mules, camels, and young dromedaries — What these beasts were is difficult to say. The word רכש rechesh, which we translate mules, signifies a swift chariot horse.

The strange word אחשתרנים achashteranim is probably a Persian word, but perhaps incurably corrupted. The most likely derivation is that of Bochart, from the Persian [Persian] akhash, huge, large, rough, and [Persian] aster, a mule; large mules.

The words בני הרמכים beney harammachim, the sons of mares, which we translate dromedaries, are supposed to signify mules, produced between the he ass and the mare, to distinguish them from those produced between the stallion and the ass, But there is really so much confusion about these matters, and so little consent among learned men as to the signification of these words, and even the true knowledge of them is of such little importance, that we may well rest contented with such names as our modern translations have given us. They were, no doubt, the swiftest and hardiest beasts that the city or country could produce.