New Living Translation
Esther 2:5
5At that time there was a Jewish man in the fortress of Susa whose name was Mordecai son of Jair. He was from the tribe of Benjamin and was a descendant of Kish and Shimei.
Esther 2:5 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Now in Shushan the palace there was a certain Jew, whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite;
- New International Version (NIV)Now there was in the citadel of Susa a Jew of the tribe of Benjamin, named Mordecai son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish,
- English Standard Version (ESV)Now there was a Jew in Susa the citadel whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, son of Shimei, son of Kish, a Benjaminite,
- New King James Version (NKJV)In Shushan the citadel there was a certain Jew whose name was Mordecai the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite.
Context of Esther 2:5
3Let the king appoint agents in each province to bring these beautiful young women into the royal harem at the fortress of Susa. Hegai, the king’s eunuch in charge of the harem, will see that they are all given beauty treatments. 4After that, the young woman who most pleases the king will be made queen instead of Vashti.” This advice was very appealing to the king, so he put the plan into effect. At that time there was a Jewish man in the fortress of Susa whose name was Mordecai son of Jair. He was from the tribe of Benjamin and was a descendant of Kish and Shimei. 6His family had been among those who, with King Jehoiachin of Judah, had been exiled from Jerusalem to Babylon by King Nebuchadnezzar. 7This man had a very beautiful and lovely young cousin, Hadassah, who was also called Esther. When her father and mother died, Mordecai adopted her into his family and raised her as his own daughter.
Read all of Esther 2Esther 2:5 word by word
אִ֣ישׁ יְהוּדִ֔י הָיָ֖ה בְּשׁוּשַׁ֣ן הַבִּירָ֑ה וּשְׁמ֣וֹ מָרְדֳּכַ֗י בֶּ֣ן יָאִ֧יר בֶּן־שִׁמְעִ֛י בֶּן־קִ֖ישׁ אִ֥ישׁ יְמִינִֽי׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
- in Shushanשׁוּשַׁןshûshan · SusaH7800
- the palaceבִּירָהbîyrâh · palaceH1002
- there was a certainאִישׁ'îysh · manH376
- Jewיְהוּדִיyehûdîy · JewH3064
- whose nameשֵׁםshêm · nameH8034
- Mordecaiמׇרְדֳּכַיmordekay · MordecaiH4782
- the sonבֵּןbên · son: childH1121
- of Jairיָאִירyâ'îyr · JairH2971
- of Shimeiשִׁמְעִיshim‛îy · ShimeiH8096
- of Kishקִישׁqîysh · KishH7027
- a Benjamiteבֶּן־יְמִינִיben-yemîynîy ben-ha-yemînîy ben-'îysh yemîynîy · BenjaminiteH1145
Cross-references for Esther 2:5
- Esther 2:3Let the king appoint agents in each province to bring these beautiful young women into the royal harem at the fortress of Susa. Hegai, the king’s eunuch in charge of the harem, will see that they are all given beauty treatments.
- Esther 1:2At that time Xerxes ruled his empire from his royal throne at the fortress of Susa.
- Esther 5:1On the third day of the fast, Esther put on her royal robes and entered the inner court of the palace, just across from the king’s hall. The king was sitting on his royal throne, facing the entrance.
- Esther 3:2All the king’s officials would bow down before Haman to show him respect whenever he passed by, for so the king had commanded. But Mordecai refused to bow down or show him respect.
- Esther 10:3Mordecai the Jew became the prime minister, with authority next to that of King Xerxes himself. He was very great among the Jews, who held him in high esteem, because he continued to work for the good of his people and to speak up for the welfare of all their descendants.
- 1 Samuel 9:1There was a wealthy, influential man named Kish from the tribe of Benjamin. He was the son of Abiel, son of Zeror, son of Becorath, son of Aphiah, of the tribe of Benjamin.
- 2 Samuel 16:5As King David came to Bahurim, a man came out of the village cursing them. It was Shimei son of Gera, from the same clan as Saul’s family.
Commentaries on Esther 2:5
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 5Whose name was Mordecai - The Targum says, "He was the son of Jair, the son of Shimea, the son of Gera, the son of Kish." And "this was the same Shimea that cursed David; and whom David forbade Joab to slay because he saw, in the spirit of prophecy, that he was to be the predecessor of Esther and Mordecai; but when he became old, and incapable of having children, David ordered Solomon to put him to death.Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 5Mordecai, the eunuch Esther 2:7, Esther 2:11, has been conjectured to be the same as Matacas, who, according to Ctesias, was the most powerful of the eunuchs during the latter portion of the reign of Xerxes. Mordecai‘s line of descent is traced from a certain Kish, carried off by Nebuchadnezzar in 598 B.C. - the year of Jeconiah‘s captivity - who was his great-grandfather. The four generations, Kish, Shimei, Jair, Mordecai, correspond to the known…Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 55. Now in Shushan the palace there was a certain Jew--Mordecai held some office about the court. But his "sitting at the king's gate" (Es 2:21) does not necessarily imply that he was in the humble condition of a porter; for, according to an institute of Cyrus, all state officers were required to wait in the outer courts till they were summoned into the presence chamber. He might, therefore, have been a person of some official dignity. This man had an…Read the comment
Topics related to Esther 2:5
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Esther 2
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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