Ester 2:2

2:2 The king’s servants who attended him said, “Let a search be conducted in the king’s behalf for attractive young women. ¹ 

Ester 6:1

The Turning Point: The King Honors Mordecai

6:1 Throughout that night the king was unable to sleep, ²  so he asked for the book containing the historical records ³  to be brought. As the records ⁴  were being read in the king’s presence,

Ester 9:4

9:4 Mordecai was of high rank ⁵  in the king’s palace, and word about him was spreading throughout all the provinces. His influence ⁶  continued to become greater and greater.

[2:2]  ¹ tn Heb “young women, virgins, good of form.” The same phrase also occurs in v. 3.

[6:1]  ² tn Heb “and the sleep of the king fled.” In place of the rather innocuous comment of the Hebrew text, the LXX reads here, “And the Lord removed the sleep from the king.” The Greek text thus understands the statement in a more overtly theological way than does the Hebrew text, although even in the Hebrew text there may be a hint of God’s providence at work in this matter. After all, this event is crucial to the later reversal of Haman’s plot to destroy the Jewish people, and a sympathetic reader is likely to look beyond the apparent coincidence.

[6:1]  ³ tn Heb “the book of the remembrances of the accounts of the days”; NAB “the chronicle of notable events.”

[6:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “they”; the referent (the records) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[9:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “great”; NRSV “powerful”; NIV “prominent”; NCV “very important.”

[9:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “the man Mordecai” (so NASB, NRSV).