以斯帖记 3:7

Chinese NCV (Simplified)

哈曼圖謀滅絕猶大人亞哈隨魯王十二年正月，就是尼散月，有人在哈曼面前弄卜“普珥”，就是抽籤，逐日逐月地抽，結果抽出了十二月，就是亞達月。

Parallel Translations

Chinese Union (Simplified)
亚 哈 随 鲁 王 十 二 年 正 月 ， 就 是 尼 散 月 ， 人 在 哈 曼 面 前 ， 按 日 日 月 月 掣 普 珥 ， 就 是 掣 签 ， 要 定 何 月 何 日 为 吉 ， 择 定 了 十 二 月 ， 就 是 亚 达 月 。

Contextual Overview

⁷ It was in the first month of the twelfth year of King Xerxes' rule—the month of Nisan. Pur (that is, the lot) was thrown before Haman to choose a day and a month. So the twelfth month, the month of Adar, was chosen. ⁸ Then Haman said to King Xerxes, "There is a certain group of people scattered among the other people in all the states of your kingdom. Their customs are different from those of all the other people, and they do not obey the king's laws. It is not right for you to allow them to continue living in your kingdom. ⁹ If it pleases the king, let an order be given to destroy those people. Then I will pay seven hundred fifty thousand pounds of silver to those who do the king's business, and they will put it into the royal treasury." ¹⁰ So the king took his signet ring off and gave it to Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of the Jewish people. ¹¹ Then the king said to Haman, "The money and the people are yours. Do with them as you please." ¹² On the thirteenth day of the first month, the royal secretaries were called, and they wrote out all of Haman's orders. They wrote to the king's governors and to the captains of the soldiers in each state and to the important men of each group of people. The orders were written in the writing of each state and in the language of each people. They were written in the name of King Xerxes and sealed with his signet ring. ¹³ Letters were sent by messengers to all the king's empire ordering them to destroy, kill, and completely wipe out all the Jewish people. That meant young and old, women and little children, too. It was to happen on a single day—the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which was Adar. And they could take everything the Jewish people owned. ¹⁴ A copy of the order was given out as a law in every state so all the people would be ready for that day. ¹⁵ The messengers set out, hurried by the king's command, as soon as the order was given in the palace at Susa. The king and Haman sat down to drink, but the city of Susa was in confusion.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

the first month: Nehemiah 2:1

in the twelfth: Esther 1:3, Esther 2:16

they cast Pur: Esther 9:24-26, Proverbs 16:33, Ezekiel 21:21, Ezekiel 21:22, Matthew 27:35

Adar: Esther 9:1, Esther 9:5, Esther 9:17-19, Esther 9:21, Ezra 6:15

Reciprocal: Exodus 12:2 - General Proverbs 24:2 - General Jonah 1:7 - and let Mark 6:21 - when Acts 12:4 - intending

Cross-References

Genesis 2:25
The man and his wife were naked, but they were not ashamed.

Genesis 3:5
God knows that if you eat the fruit from that tree, you will learn about good and evil and you will be like God!"

Genesis 3:10
The man answered, "I heard you walking in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid."

Genesis 3:11
God asked, "Who told you that you were naked? Did you eat fruit from the tree from which I commanded you not to eat?"

Deuteronomy 28:34
The things you see will cause you to go mad.

2 Kings 6:20
After they entered Samaria, Elisha said, " Lord , open these men's eyes so they can see." So the Lord opened their eyes, and the Aramean army saw that they were inside the city of Samaria!

Isaiah 28:20
You will be like the person who tried to sleep on a bed that was too short and with a blanket that was too narrow to wrap around himself.

Isaiah 59:6
The webs they make cannot be used for clothes; you can't cover yourself with those webs. The things they do are evil, and they use their hands to hurt others.

Luke 16:23
In the place of the dead, he was in much pain. The rich man saw Abraham far away with Lazarus at his side.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

In the first month, that is the month Nisan,.... Which was the first month of the sacred year of the Jews, by divine appointment,

Exodus 12:2, and there called Abib, and answers to part of February and part of March; from hence it is clear this book was written by a Jew, and very probably by Mordecai:

in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus; four years and near two months after his marriage of Esther, Esther 2:16,

they cast Pur, that is, the lot, before Haman; being a Persian word, it is explained in Hebrew a lot, the word signifying "steel" in the Persian language. Reland p conjectures that this was that sort of lot called "sideromantia". Who cast this lot is not said; whether Haman himself, or one of his servants: perhaps a diviner. The latter Targum calls him Shimshai the scribe:

from day today, and from month to month, to the twelfth month, that is the month Adar; which answers to part of January and part of February; so that the lot was cast for every month and every day of the month throughout the year, to find out which was the most lucky month, and which the most lucky day in that month, to destroy the Jews in and none could be found till they came to the last month, and the thirteenth day of that month, Esther 3:13, the providence of God so overruling the lot, that there might be time enough for the Jews, through the mediation of Esther to the king, to prevent their destruction; so in other nations the Heathens had their lucky and unlucky days q.

p Antiqu. Heb. par. 4. c. 12. sect. 1. q Vid. Macrob. Saturnal l. 1. c. 16. Alex. ab Alex. Genial. Dier. l. 4. c. 20.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

In the first month ... - i. e. in March or April of 474 B.C.

“Pur” is supposed to be an old Persian word etymologically connected with the Latin “pars”, and signifying “part” or “lot.” The practice of casting lots to obtain a lucky day still obtains in the East, and is probably extremely ancient. A lot seems to have been cast, or a throw of some kind made, for each day of the month and each month of the year. The day and month which obtained the best throws were then selected. Assyrian calendars note lucky and unlucky days as early as the eighth century B.C. Lots were in use both among the Oriental and the Classical nations from a remote antiquity.

“Adar,” the twelfth month, corresponds nearly to our March. It seems to have derived its name from “adar”, “splendor,” because of the brightness of the sun and the flowers at that time.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Esther 3:7. The first month — That is, of the civil year of the Jews.

The month Nisan — Answering to a part of our March and April.

The twelfth year of king Ahasuerus — According to the chronology in our Bibles, about five hundred and ten years before Christ.

They cast Pur, that is, the lot — This appears to be the Hebrew corruption of the pure Persian word [Persian] pari, which signifies any thing that happens fortuitously. There is an addition here in the Greek text that was probably in the original, and which makes this place very plain. I shall set down the whole verse, and give the Greek in a parenthesis, that it may be read consecutively with what is in the Hebrew: "In the first month, that is, the month Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, they cast Pur, that is, the lot, before Haman, from day to day, and from month to month." (ὡστε απολεσαι εν μιᾳ ἡμερᾳ το γενος Μαρδοχαιου, και επεσεν ὁ κληρος εις την τεσερακαιδεκατην του μηνος ὁς εστιν Αδαρ, "that they might destroy in one day the people of Mordecai; and the lot fell on the fourteenth day of the month Adar.")

We see plainly intimated by the Hebrew text that they cast lots, or used a species of divination, to find which of the twelve months would be the most favourable for the execution of Haman's design; and, having found the desired month, then they cast lots, or used divination, to find out which day of the said month would be the lucky day for the accomplishment of the enterprise. But the Hebrew text does not tell us the result of this divination; we are left to guess it out; but the Greek supplies this deficiency, and makes all clear. From it we find that, when they cast for the month, the month Adar was taken; and when they cast for the day, the fourteenth (Heb. thirteenth) of that month was taken.

Some have questioned whether Pur may not have signified also some game of chance, which they played before or with Haman, from day to day, to divert him from his melancholy, till the lucky time came in which he was to have the gratification of slaying all the people who were objects of his enmity; or they cast lots, or played, who should get the property of such and such opulent families. Holinshed, one of our ancient historians, informs us that, previously to the battle of Agincourt, the English army, under Henry V., were so thinned and weakened by disease, and the French army so numerous, that "Frenchmen, in the mean while, as though they had been sure of victory, made great triumphe, for the captaines had determined before how to divide the spoil; and the souldiers, the night before, had plaied the Englishmen at dice." To this the chorus of Shakspeare alludes: -

"Proud of their numbers, and secure of soul,

The confident and over-lusty French

Do the low-rated English play at dice.

_____________ The poor condemned English,

Like sacrifices by their watchful fires,

Sit patiently and inly ruminate

The morning's danger; and their gestures sad,

Investing lank-lean cheeks, and war-worn coats,

Presenteth them unto the gazing moon

So many horrid ghosts. HEN. V.

Monstrelet, who is an impartial writer, does not mention this.

Did Haman and his flatterers intend to divide the spoils of the designed-to-be-massacred Jews in some such manner as this?