Ester 1:21

1:21 The matter seemed appropriate to the king and the officials. So the king acted on the advice of Memucan.

Ester 3:9-10

3:9 If the king is so inclined, ¹  let an edict be issued ²  to destroy them. I will pay ten thousand talents of silver ³  to be conveyed to the king’s treasuries for the officials who carry out this business.”

3:10 So the king removed his signet ring ⁴  from his hand and gave it to Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, who was hostile toward the Jews.

Ester 3:2

3:2 As a result, ⁵  all the king’s servants who were at the king’s gate were bowing and paying homage to Haman, for the king had so commanded. However, Mordecai did not bow, ⁶  nor did he pay him homage.

1 Samuel 13:4-6

13:4 All Israel heard this message, ⁷  “Saul has attacked the Philistine outpost, and now Israel is repulsive ⁸  to the Philistines!” So the people were summoned to join ⁹  Saul at Gilgal.

13:5 For the battle with Israel the Philistines had amassed 3,000 ¹⁰  chariots, 6,000 horsemen, and an army as numerous as the sand on the seashore. They went up and camped at Micmash, east of Beth Aven. 13:6 The men of Israel realized they had a problem because their army was hard pressed. So the army hid in caves, thickets, cliffs, strongholds, ¹¹  and cisterns.

1 Samuel 16:21-23

16:21 David came to Saul and stood before him. Saul liked him a great deal, ¹²  and he became his armor bearer. 16:22 Then Saul sent word to Jesse saying, “Let David be my servant, for I really like him.” ¹³ 

16:23 So whenever the spirit from God would come upon Saul, David would take his lyre and play it. This would bring relief to Saul and make him feel better. Then the evil spirit would leave him alone. ¹⁴ 

1 Samuel 17:4

17:4 Then a champion ¹⁵  came out from the camp of the Philistines. His name was Goliath; he was from Gath. He was close to seven feet tall. ¹⁶ 

Matius 14:6

14:6 But on Herod’s birthday, the daughter of Herodias danced before them and pleased Herod,

[3:9]  ¹ tn Heb “If upon the king it is good”; KJV “If it please the king.”

[3:9]  ² tn Heb “let it be written” (so KJV, ASV); NASB “let it be decreed.”

[3:9]  ³ sn The enormity of the monetary sum referred to here can be grasped by comparing this amount (10,000 talents of silver) to the annual income of the empire, which according to Herodotus (Histories 3.95) was 14,500 Euboic talents. In other words Haman is offering the king a bribe equal to two-thirds of the royal income. Doubtless this huge sum of money was to come (in large measure) from the anticipated confiscation of Jewish property and assets once the Jews had been destroyed. That such a large sum of money is mentioned may indicate something of the economic standing of the Jewish population in the empire of King Ahasuerus.

[3:10]  ⁴ sn Possessing the king’s signet ring would enable Haman to act with full royal authority. The king’s ring would be used to impress the royal seal on edicts, making them as binding as if the king himself had enacted them.

[3:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “and” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV). Other modern English versions leave the conjunction untranslated here (NAB, NIV, NCV, NLT).

[3:2]  ⁶ sn Mordecai did not bow. The reason for Mordecai’s refusal to bow before Haman is not clearly stated here. Certainly the Jews did not refuse to bow as a matter of principle, as though such an action somehow violated the second command of the Decalogue. Many biblical texts bear witness to their practice of falling prostrate before people of power and influence (e.g., 1 Sam 24:8; 2 Sam 14:4; 1 Kgs 1:16). Perhaps the issue here was that Haman was a descendant of the Amalekites, a people who had attacked Israel in an earlier age (see Exod 17:8-16; 1 Sam 15:17-20; Deut 25:17-19).

[13:4]  ⁷ tn The words “this message” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[13:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “stinks.” The figurative language indicates that Israel had become repulsive to the Philistines.

[13:4]  ⁹ tn Heb “were summoned after.”

[13:5]  ¹⁰ tn Many English versions (e.g., KJV, NASB, NRSV, TEV) read “30,000” here.

[13:6]  ¹¹ tn Or perhaps “vaults.” This rare term also occurs in Judg 9:46, 49. Cf. KJV “high places”; ASV “coverts”; NAB “caverns”; NASB “cellars”; NIV, NCV, TEV “pits”; NRSV, NLT “tombs.”

[16:21]  ¹² tn Heb “he loved him.”

[16:22]  ¹³ tn Heb “Let David stand before me, for he has found favor in my eyes.”

[16:23]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “would turn aside from upon him.”

[17:4]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “the man of the space between the two [armies].” See v. 23.

[17:4]  ¹⁶ tc Heb “his height was six cubits and a span” (cf. KJV, NASB, NRSV). A cubit was approximately eighteen inches, a span nine inches. So, according to the Hebrew tradition, Goliath was about nine feet, nine inches tall (cf. NIV, CEV, NLT “over nine feet”; NCV “nine feet, four inches”; TEV “nearly 3 metres”). However, some Greek witnesses, Josephus, and a manuscript of 1 Samuel from Qumran read “four cubits and a span” here, that is, about six feet, nine inches (cf. NAB “six and a half feet”). This seems more reasonable; it is likely that Goliath’s height was exaggerated as the story was retold. See P. K. McCarter, I Samuel (AB), 286, 291.