Job 1:22

Clementine Latin Vulgate

et misit epistolas ad universas provincias regni sui, ut quæque gens audire et legere poterat, diversis linguis et litteris, esse viros principes ac majores in domibus suis : et hoc per cunctos populos divulgari.

Parallel Translations

Jerome's Latin Vulgate (405)
et misit epistolas ad universas provincias regni sui, ut qu�que gens audire et legere poterat, diversis linguis et litteris, esse viros principes ac majores in domibus suis: et hoc per cunctos populos divulgari.

Nova Vulgata (1979)
Et misit epistulas ad universas provincias regni sui, ut quaeque gens audire et legere poterat, diversis linguis et litteris, esse viros principes ac maiores in domibus suis et subditas habere omnes mulieres, quae essent cum eis.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

into every province: Esther 3:12, Esther 8:9, Daniel 3:29, Daniel 4:1

that every man: Both the law of God and common sense taught this from the foundation of the world; and this parade of enactment was only to deprive Vashti of her crown. Ephesians 5:22-24, 1 Timothy 2:12, Titus 2:4, Titus 2:5

it should: etc. Heb. one should publish it according to the language of his country, Esther 3:12

according: Luke 16:8, Acts 2:5-11, 1 Corinthians 14:19, 1 Corinthians 14:20

Reciprocal: Ezra 5:8 - the province Esther 9:20 - in all the provinces

Gill's Notes on the Bible

For he sent letters unto all the king's provinces,.... The one hundred and twenty seven provinces, Esther 1:1, which, according to the Targum, were written and sealed with his own seal; which is very probable:

into every province according to the writing thereof, and to every people after their language; that is, these letters were written in the language, and in the characters in which that language was written, used in each of the provinces to which these letters were sent, that they might be easily read and understood by all: the sum of which was,

that every man should bear rule in his own house; be prince, lord, and master there, and his commands obeyed, not only by his children and servants, but by his wife also:

and that it should be published according to the language of every people; but as this is expressed, or at least implied, in the first clause of this verse, it should rather be rendered, "and that he should speak according to the language of his people"; and so is the latter Targum; it seems as if a man, who had married a woman in another country, in complaisance to her had neglected his own native tongue, and used hers in the family, by which means he lost, or seemed to lose, his authority in it: now, to guard against this, this part of the law was made; and, according to Jarchi, the husband was to compel his wife to learn and speak his language, if she was a foreigner; to which agrees the first Targum, which paraphrases the whole thus,

"that a man rule over his wife, and oblige her to speak according to the language of her husband, and the speech of his people;''

and, in later times, Bahram Gaur forbid any other language, besides the Persian, to be used within his port, either in speaking or writing b.

b Vid. Castel. Lexic. Persic. col. 266.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

He sent letters - The Persian system of posts incidentally noticed in the present book Esther 3:12-15; Esther 8:9-14, is in entire harmony with the accounts of Herodotus and Xenophon.

Into every province according to the writing thereof - The practice of the Persians to address proclamations to the subject-nations in their own speech, and not merely in the language of the conqueror, is illustrated by the bilingual and trilingual inscriptions of the Achaemenian monarchs, from Cyrus to Artaxerxes Ochus, each inscription being of the nature of a proclamation.

The decree was not unnecessary. The undue influence of women in domestic, and even in public, matters is a feature of the ancient Persian monarchy. Atossa completely ruled Darius. Xerxes himself was, in his later years, shamefully subject to Amestris. The example of the court would naturally infect the people. The decree therefore would be a protest, even if ineffectual, against a real and growing evil.

And that it should be published ... - Render it: “and speak the language of his own people;” in the sense that the wife’s language, if different from her husband’s, should in no case be allowed to prevail in the household.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Esther 1:22. That every man should bear rule in his own house — Both God's law and common sense taught this from the foundation of the world. And is it possible that this did not obtain in the Persian empire, previously to this edict? The twentieth verse has another clause, That all wives shall give to their husbands honour, both to great and small. This also was universally understood. This law did nothing. I suppose the parade of enactment was only made to deprive honest Vashti of her crown. The Targum adds, "That each woman should speak the language of her husband." If she were even a foreigner, she should be obliged to learn and speak the language of the king. Perhaps there might be some common sense in this, as it would oblige the foreigner to devote much time to study and improvement; and, consequently, to make her a better woman, and a better wife. But there is no proof that this was a part of the decree. But there are so many additions to this book in the principal versions, that we know not what might have made a part of it originally.