myBibleHistory

Journey of a Passage

Esther 9:10, 15–16

"On the spoil laid they not their hand"

The Hebrew says three times that the Jews took no plunder, though the decree allowed it. The library's Greek (Giguet, its 9:9) says the Jews of Susa "plundered their houses" (Haman's sons'), while later saying they took nothing elsewhere.

Read Esther 9:10, 15–16 in every edition

Manuscript variant: witnesses differ in wording

The family tree

Each row is a language or text tradition. Witnesses in the same row may share ancestry, revise one another, or have an uncertain relationship; the line under each box says which. A solid arrow appears only where direct copying or a documented revised edition is established. Order by date never implies copying. Scroll sideways on a phone.

✓ contains it · ✕ does not · ❝ quotes part of it · ⓘ reports on manuscripts · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives

  • Same line, through lost copies
  • Translation
Hebrew
  1. Original EstherComposed c. 400–150 BC (debated)
  2. Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from Original Esther
Greek
  1. Old Greek Esther (library text: Giguet's French)Translated c. 2nd–1st century BCTranslated from a Hebrew text of Esther, freely, with additions
Latin
  1. Jerome's Vulgatec. AD 400Translated from Hebrew texts of Jerome's day (additions from Greek, appended)
English
  1. King James Bible1611Translated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

Every witness, in order

  1. Composed c. 400–150 BC (debated)

    Original Esther

    – No copy survives

    No original survives. No copy of Esther has been identified among the Dead Sea Scrolls.

  2. Translated c. 2nd–1st century BC

    Old Greek Esther (library text: Giguet's French)

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from a Hebrew text of Esther, freely, with additions

    How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.

    Et ils enlevèrent les dix fils d'Aman… et ils pillèrent leurs maisons

    and they did away with Haman's ten sons… and plundered their houses

    Its 9:9. Its 9:14–15 say "they took nothing." Old Greek via Giguet's French (its own verse numbers); not checked against Hanhart's Göttingen edition.

  3. c. AD 400

    Jerome's Vulgate

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from Hebrew texts of Jerome's day (additions from Greek, appended)

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Clementine Vulgate (1592 edition).

    (9:10) prædas de substantiis eorum tangere noluerunt

    they would not touch the spoil of their goods

  4. AD 1008

    Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)

    ✓ Contains this passageDescends, through lost copies, from Original Esther

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.

    (9:10) וּבַבִּזָּה לֹא שָׁלְחוּ אֶת־יָדָם

    but on the plunder they did not lay their hand

    Repeated in 9:15 and 9:16.

  5. 1611

    King James Bible

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).

    but on the spoil laid they not their hand

What changed, and why

The no-plunder refrain contrasts with Saul, who took Amalek's spoil (1 Samuel 15:9, 19), and signals that the Jews fought to survive, not for gain. The Greek reading may reflect Haman's estate passing to Esther (8:1). The difference changes how the episode is judged.

What the evidence shows

  • Independently documentedThe Hebrew repeats that no plunder was taken.
  • Independently documentedThe library's Greek says Haman's sons' houses were plundered. Via Giguet.

Sources

    Related lessons

    • Violence, Numbers and Purim →On 13 Adar the day is reversed: the Jews gather against those who sought their hurt, and officials help them for fear of Mordecai. In Susa they kill 500 men and Haman's ten sons, but lay no hand on the plunder. At Esther's request a second day is granted in Susa: 300 more men; the ten sons are hanged. Elsewhere the Jews kill 75,000 (in the library's Greek, 15,000), and take no plunder. They rest and feast on the 14th, in Susa on the 15th. Mordecai and Esther write letters establishing Purim: feasting, gifts to one another and gifts to the poor, every year.
    • Esther, Power and Violence →Esther raises hard questions: a queen deposed for refusing to be displayed; young women gathered for the king; a decree of genocide; a counter-decree permitting the killing of attackers' families; 75,000 dead. This lesson gathers what the text says, how different communities have read it, and why it mattered so much to people facing persecution.