Ester 1:3

1:3 in the third ¹  year of his reign he provided a banquet for all his officials and his servants. The army ²  of Persia and Media ³  was present, ⁴  as well as the nobles and the officials of the provinces.

Ester 1:8

1:8 There were no restrictions on the drinking, ⁵  for the king had instructed all of his supervisors ⁶  that they should do as everyone so desired. ⁷ 

Ester 1:17

1:17 For the matter concerning the queen will spread to all the women, leading them to treat their husbands with contempt, saying, ‘When King Ahasuerus gave orders to bring Queen Vashti into his presence, she would not come.’

Ester 1:20

1:20 And let the king’s decision which he will enact be disseminated ⁸  throughout all his kingdom, vast though it is. ⁹  Then all the women will give honor to their husbands, from the most prominent to the lowly.”

Ester 1:22

1:22 He sent letters throughout all the royal provinces, to each province according to its own script and to each people according to its own language, ¹⁰  that every man should be ruling his family ¹¹  and should be speaking the language of his own people. ¹² 

Ester 3:1

Haman Conspires to Destroy the Jews

3:1 Some time later ¹³  King Ahasuerus promoted ¹⁴  Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, exalting him and setting his position ¹⁵  above that of all the officials who were with him.

Ester 3:6

3:6 But the thought of striking out against ¹⁶  Mordecai alone was repugnant to him, for he had been informed ¹⁷  of the identity of Mordecai’s people. ¹⁸  So Haman sought to destroy all the Jews (that is, the people of Mordecai) ¹⁹  who were in all the kingdom of Ahasuerus.

Ester 4:5

4:5 So Esther called for Hathach, one of the king’s eunuchs who had been placed at her service, ²⁰  and instructed him to find out the cause and reason for Mordecai’s behavior. ²¹ 

Ester 4:13

4:13 he ²²  said to take back this answer to Esther:

Ester 6:2-3

6:2 it was found written that Mordecai had disclosed that Bigthana ²³  and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs who guarded the entrance, had plotted to assassinate ²⁴  King Ahasuerus.

6:3 The king asked, “What great honor ²⁵  was bestowed on Mordecai because of this?” The king’s attendants who served him responded, “Not a thing was done for him.”

Ester 8:3

8:3 Then Esther again spoke with the king, falling at his feet. She wept and begged him for mercy, that he might nullify the evil of Haman the Agagite which he had intended against the Jews. ²⁶ 

Ester 9:20

9:20 Mordecai wrote these matters down and sent letters to all the Jews who were throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far,

[1:3]  ¹ sn The third year of Xerxes’ reign would be ca. 483 b.c.

[1:3]  ² tc Due to the large numbers of people implied, some scholars suggest that the original text may have read “leaders of the army” (cf. NAB “Persian and Median aristocracy”; NASB “the army officers”; NIV “the military leaders”). However, there is no textual evidence for this emendation, and the large numbers are not necessarily improbable.

[1:3]  ³ sn Unlike the Book of Daniel, the usual order for this expression in Esther is “Persia and Media” (cf. vv. 14, 18, 19). In Daniel the order is “Media and Persia,” indicating a time in their history when Media was in the ascendancy.

[1:3]  ⁴ sn The size of the banquet described here, the number of its invited guests, and the length of its duration, although certainly immense by any standard, are not without precedent in the ancient world. C. A. Moore documents a Persian banquet for 15,000 people and an Assyrian celebration with 69,574 guests (Esther [AB], 6).

[1:8]  ⁵ tn Heb “the drinking was according to law; there was no one compelling.”

[1:8]  ⁶ tn Heb “every chief of his house”; KJV “all the officers of his house”; NLT “his staff.”

[1:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “according to the desire of man and man.”

[1:20]  ⁸ tn Heb “heard”; KJV, NAB, NLT “published”; NIV, NRSV “proclaimed.”

[1:20]  ⁹ tc The phrase “vast though it is” is not included in the LXX, although it is retained by almost all English versions.

[1:22]  ¹⁰ sn For purposes of diplomacy and governmental communication throughout the far-flung regions of the Persian empire the Aramaic language was normally used. Educated people throughout the kingdom could be expected to have competence in this language. But in the situation described in v. 22 a variety of local languages are to be used, and not just Aramaic, so as to make the king’s edict understandable to the largest possible number of people.

[1:22]  ¹¹ tn Heb “in his house”; NIV “over his own household.”

[1:22]  ¹² tc The final prepositional phrase is not included in the LXX, and this shorter reading is followed by a number of English versions (e.g., NAB, NRSV, NLT). Some scholars suggest the phrase may be the result of dittography from the earlier phrase “to each people according to its language,” but this is not a necessary conclusion. The edict was apparently intended to reassert male prerogative with regard to two things (and not just one): sovereign and unquestioned leadership within the family unit, and the right of deciding which language was to be used in the home when a bilingual situation existed.

[3:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “after these things” (so KJV, ASV); NAB, NASB, NIV “After these events.”

[3:1]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “made great”; NAB “raised…to high rank”; NIV “honored.”

[3:1]  sn The promotion of Haman in 3:1 for reasons unexplained contrasts noticeably with 2:19-23, where Mordecai’s contribution to saving the king’s life goes unnoticed. The irony is striking.

[3:1]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “chair”; KJV, NRSV “seat”; NASB “established his authority.”

[3:6]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “to send a hand against”; KJV, NRSV “to lay hands on.”

[3:6]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “they had related to him.” For stylistic reasons this has been translated as a passive construction.

[3:6]  ¹⁸ tc The entire first half of the verse is not included in the LXX.

[3:6]  ¹⁹ tc This parenthetical phrase is not included in the LXX. Some scholars emend the MT reading עַם (’am, “people”) to עִם (’im, “with”), arguing that the phrase is awkwardly placed and syntactically inappropriate. While there is some truth to their complaint, the MT makes sufficient sense to be acceptable here, and is followed by most English versions.

[4:5]  ²⁰ tn Heb “whom he caused to stand before her”; NASB “whom the king had appointed to attend her.”

[4:5]  ²¹ tn Heb “concerning Mordecai, to know what this was, and why this was.”

[4:13]  ²² tn Heb “Mordecai.” The pronoun (“he”) was used in the translation for stylistic reasons. A repetition of the proper name here is redundant in terms of contemporary English style.

[6:2]  ²³ tn This individual is referred to as “Bigthan,” a variant spelling of the name, in Esth 2:21.

[6:2]  ²⁴ tn Heb “to send a hand against”; NASB “had sought to lay hands on.”

[6:3]  ²⁵ tn Heb “honor and greatness.” The expression is a hendiadys (see the note on 5:10 for an explanation of this figure).

[8:3]  ²⁶ sn As in 7:4 Esther avoids implicating the king in this plot. Instead Haman is given sole responsibility for the plan to destroy the Jews.