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 3:12

3:12 So the royal scribes ³  were summoned in the first month, on the thirteenth day of the month. Everything Haman commanded was written to the king’s satraps ⁴  and governors who were in every province and to the officials of every people, province by province according to its script and people by people according to its language. In the name of King Ahasuerus it was written and sealed with the king’s signet ring.

Ester 7:1

The King Has Haman Executed

7:1 So the king and Haman came to dine ⁵  with Queen Esther.

Ester 10:1

Mordecai’s Fame Increases

10:1 King Ahasuerus then imposed forced labor on the land and on the coastlands of the sea.

[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.

[3:12]  ³ tn Or “secretaries” (so NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[3:12]  ⁴ tn Or “princes” (so NLT); CEV “highest officials.”

[7:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “to drink”; NASB “to drink wine.” The expression is a metaphor for lavish feasting, cf. NRSV “to feast”; KJV “to banquet.”