Esther Chapter 6 verse 1 Holy Bible
On that night could not the king sleep; and he commanded to bring the book of records of the chronicles, and they were read before the king.
read chapter 6 in ASV
That night the king was unable to get any sleep; and he sent for the books of the records; and while some one was reading them to the king,
read chapter 6 in BBE
On that night sleep fled from the king. And he commanded to bring the book of records of the chronicles; and they were read before the king.
read chapter 6 in DARBY
On that night could not the king sleep, and he commanded to bring the book of records of the chronicles; and they were read before the king.
read chapter 6 in KJV
In that night the king could not sleep, and he commanded to bring the book of records of the chronicles; and they were read before the king.
read chapter 6 in WBT
On that night the king couldn't sleep; and he commanded to bring the book of records of the chronicles, and they were read before the king.
read chapter 6 in WEB
On that night hath the sleep of the king fled away, and he saith to bring in the book of memorials of the Chronicles, and they are read before the king,
read chapter 6 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 1. - The book of records of the chronicles. Compare Esther 2:23, where the title is given more briefly, as "the book of the chronicles." See also Esther 10:2. The character of the book has been already explained (see comment on Esther 2:23). They were read. Either because the king could not read himself ('Ancient Monarchies,' vol. 4. p. 184), or because the sound of a man's voice might (it was thought) induce drowsiness.
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English ReadersVI.(1) Could not the king sleep.--Literally, the king's sleep fled away. Here, in the most striking way in the whole book, the workings of God's providence on behalf of His people are shown. "God Himself is here, though His name be absent." The king's sleepless night falls after the day when Haman has resolved to ask on the morrow for Mordecai's execution, a foretaste of the richer vengeance he hopes to wreak on the whole nation of the Jews. It is by a mere chance, one would say, looking at the matter simply in its human aspect, that the king should call for the book of the royal chronicles, and not for music. It was by a mere chance too. it might seem, that the reader should happen to light upon the record of Mordecai's services; and yet when all these apparent accidents are wrought up into the coincidence they make, how completely is the providence visible, the power that will use men as the instruments of its work, whether they know it, or know it not, whether they be willing or unwilling, whether the glory of God is to be manifested in and by and through them, or manifested on them only.They were read before the king.--Canon Rawlinson remarks that there is reason to think that the Persian kings were in most cases unable to read.
