Esther 8:10

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:

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.

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.

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:

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 Then Esther again came before the king, falling down at his feet, and made request to him with weeping, that he would put a stop to the evil purposes of Haman the Agagite and the designs which he had made against the Jews. ⁴ Then the king put out the rod of gold to Esther, and she got up before the king. ⁵ And she said, If it is the king's pleasure and if I have his approval and this thing seems right to the king and I am pleasing to him, then let letters be sent giving orders against those which Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, sent out for the destruction of the Jews in all divisions of the kingdom: ⁶ For how is it possible for me to see the evil which is to overtake my nation? how may I see the destruction of my people? ⁷ Then King Ahasuerus said to Esther the queen and to Mordecai the Jew, See now, I have given Esther the family of Haman, and he has come to his death by hanging, because he made an attack on the Jews. ⁸ So now send a letter about the Jews, writing whatever seems good to you, in the king's name, and stamping it with the king's ring: for a writing signed in the king's name and stamped with the king's ring may not be changed. ⁹ Then at that time, on the twenty-third day of the third month, which is the month Sivan, the king's scribes were sent for; and everything ordered by Mordecai was put in writing and sent to the Jews and the captains and the rulers and the chiefs of all the divisions of the kingdom from India to Ethiopia, a hundred and twenty-seven divisions, to every division in the writing commonly used there, and to every people in their language, and to the Jews in their writing and their language. ¹⁰ 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: ¹¹ In these letters the king gave authority to the Jews in every town to come together and make a fight for their lives, and to send death and destruction on the power of any people in any part of the kingdom attacking them or their children or their women, and to take their goods from them by force, ¹² On one day in every division of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, that is, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month Adar.

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
For after seven days I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, for the destruction of every living thing which I have made on the face of the earth.

Genesis 7:10
And after the seven days, the waters came over all the earth.

Genesis 8:12
And after seven days more, he sent the dove out again, but she did not come back to him.

Psalms 40:1
When I was waiting quietly for the Lord, his heart was turned to me, and he gave ear to my cry.

Isaiah 8:17
And I will be waiting for the Lord, whose face is veiled from the house of Jacob, and I will be looking for him.

Isaiah 26:8
We have been waiting for you, O Lord; the desire of our soul is for the memory of your name.

Romans 8:25
But if we have hope for that which we see not, then we will be able to go on waiting 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.