SEV Biblia, Chapter 7:4
Porque vendidos estamos yo y mi pueblo, para ser destruidos, para ser muertos y echados a perder. Si para siervos y siervas fuéramos vendidos, me callaría, aunque el enemigo no compensara el daño al rey.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Esther 7:4
Verse 4. To be destroyed, to be slain] She here repeats the words which Haman put into the decree. See chap. iii. 13. Could not countervail the king's damage.] Even the ten thousand talents of silver could not be considered as a compensation to the state for the loss of a whole nation of people throughout all their generations.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 4. For we are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish , etc.] She makes use of these several words, to express the utter destruction of her and her people, without any exception; not only the more to impress the king’s mind with it, but she has respect to the precise words of the decree, ( Esther 3:13) as she has also to the 10,000 talents of silver Haman offered to pay the king for the grant of it, when she says, “we are sold”, or delivered to be destroyed: but if we had been sold for bondmen and bondwomen, I had held my tongue : should never have asked for deliverance from bondage, but have patiently submitted to it, however unreasonable, unjust, and afflictive it would have been; because it might have been borne, and there might be hope of deliverance from it at one time or another; though it is said, slaves with the Persians were never made free f157 ; but that being the case would not have been so great a loss to the king, who would have reaped some advantage by their servitude; whereas, by the death of them, he must sustain a loss which the enemy was not equal to, and which he could not compensate with all his riches; which, according to Ben Melech, is the sense of the next clause: although the enemy could not countervail the king’s damage ; or, “for the enemy cannot”, etc. the 10,000 talents offered by him, and all the riches that he has, are not an equivalent to the loss the king would sustain by the death of such a multitude of people, from whom he received so large a tribute; but this the enemy regarded not; and so Jarchi interprets it, the enemy took no care of, or was concerned about the king’s damage; but there is another sense, which Aben Ezra mentions, and is followed by some learned men, who take the word for “enemy” to signify “distress”, trouble, and anguish, as in ( Psalm 4:1 119:143) and read the words, “for this distress would not be reckoned the king’s damage” f158 , or loss; though it would have been a distress to the Jews to have been sold for slaves, yet the loss to the king would not be so great as their death, since he would receive benefit by their service.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 1-6 - If the love of life causes earnest pleadings with those that can onl kill the body, how fervent should our prayers be to Him, who is able to destroy both body and soul in hell! How should we pray for the salvation of our relatives, friends, and all around us! When we petition great men, we must be cautious not to give them offence; eve just complaints must often be kept back. But when we approach the Kin of kings with reverence, we cannot ask or expect too much. Thoug nothing but wrath be our due, God is able and willing to do exceedin abundantly, even beyond all we can ask or think.
Original Hebrew
כי 3588 נמכרנו 4376 אני 589 ועמי 5971 להשׁמיד 8045 להרוג 2026 ולאבד 6 ואלו 432 לעבדים 5650 ולשׁפחות 8198 נמכרנו 4376 החרשׁתי 2790 כי 3588 אין 369 הצר 6862 שׁוה 7737 בנזק 5143 המלך׃ 4428
