Ester 2:19

Mordecai Learns of a Plot against the King

2:19 Now when the young women were being gathered again, ¹  Mordecai was sitting at the king’s gate. ² 

Ester 2:22

2:22 When Mordecai learned of the conspiracy, ³  he informed Queen Esther, ⁴  and Esther told the king in Mordecai’s behalf. ⁵ 

Ester 4:2

4:2 But he went no further than the king’s gate, for no one was permitted to enter the king’s gate clothed in sackcloth.

Ester 8:9

8:9 The king’s scribes were quickly ⁶  summoned – in the third month (that is, the month of Sivan), on the twenty-third day. ⁷  They wrote out ⁸  everything that Mordecai instructed to the Jews and to the satraps and the governors and the officials of the provinces all the way from India to Ethiopia ⁹  – a hundred and twenty-seven provinces in all – to each province in its own script and to each people in their own language, and to the Jews according to their own script and their own language.

Ester 9:5

9:5 The Jews struck all their enemies with the sword, bringing death and destruction, and they did as they pleased with their enemies.

[2:19]  ¹ tc The LXX does not include the words “Now when the young women were being gathered again.” The Hebrew word שֵׁנִית (shenit, “a second time”) is difficult in v. 19, but apparently it refers to a subsequent regathering of the women to the harem.

[2:19]  ² sn That Mordecai was sitting at the king’s gate apparently means that he was a high-ranking government official. It was at the city gate where important business was transacted. Being in this position afforded Mordecai an opportunity to become aware of the plot against the king’s life, although the author does not include the particular details of how this information first came to Mordecai’s attention.

[2:22]  ³ sn The text of Esther does not disclose exactly how Mordecai learned about the plot against the king’s life. Ancient Jewish traditions state that Mordecai overheard conspiratorial conversation, or that an informant brought this information to him, or that it came to him as a result of divine prompting. These conjectures are all without adequate support from the biblical text. The author simply does not tell the source of Mordecai’s insight into this momentous event.

[2:22]  ⁴ tc The LXX simply reads “Esther” and does not include “the queen.”

[2:22]  ⁵ tc The LXX adds here “the things concerning the plot.”

[2:22]  tn Heb “in the name of Mordecai” (so NRSV); NIV “giving credit to Mordecai.”

[8:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “in that time”; NIV “At once.”

[8:9]  ⁷ sn Cf. 3:12. Two months and ten days have passed since Haman’s edict to wipe out the Jews.

[8:9]  ⁸ tn Heb “it was written”; this passive construction has been converted to an active one in the translation for clarity and for stylistic reasons.

[8:9]  ⁹ tn Heb “Cush” (so NIV), referring to the region of the upper Nile in Africa. Cf. KJV and most other English versions “Ethiopia.”