Ester 7:8

7:8 When the king returned from the palace garden to the banquet of wine, Haman was throwing himself down ¹  on the couch where Esther was lying. ²  The king exclaimed, “Will he also attempt to rape the queen while I am still in the building!”

As these words left the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face.

Ester 4:14

4:14 “Don’t imagine that because you are part of the king’s household you will be the one Jew ³  who will escape. If you keep quiet at this time, liberation and protection for the Jews will appear ⁴  from another source, ⁵  while you and your father’s household perish. It may very well be ⁶  that you have achieved royal status ⁷  for such a time as this!”

Ester 8:12

8:12 This was to take place on a certain day throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus – namely, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month (that is, the month of Adar).

Ester 1:14

1:14 Those who were closest to him were Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, and Memucan. These men were the seven officials of Persia and Media who saw the king on a regular basis ⁸  and had the most prominent offices ⁹  in the kingdom.

Ester 1:6

1:6 The furnishings included linen and purple curtains hung by cords of the finest linen ¹⁰  and purple wool on silver rings, alabaster columns, gold and silver couches ¹¹  displayed on a floor made of valuable stones of alabaster, mother-of-pearl, and mineral stone.

Ester 2:9

2:9 This young woman pleased him, ¹²  and she found favor with him. He quickly provided her with her cosmetics and her rations; he also provided her with the seven specially chosen ¹³  young women who were from the palace. He then transferred her and her young women to the best quarters in the harem. ¹⁴ 

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, ¹⁵  that every man should be ruling his family ¹⁶  and should be speaking the language of his own people. ¹⁷ 

Ester 1:5

1:5 When those days ¹⁸  were completed, the king then provided a seven-day ¹⁹  banquet for all the people who were present ²⁰  in Susa the citadel, for those of highest standing to the most lowly. ²¹  It was held in the court located in the garden of the royal palace.

Ester 2:3

2:3 And let the king appoint officers throughout all the provinces of his kingdom to gather all the attractive young women to Susa the citadel, to the harem ²²  under the authority of Hegai, the king’s eunuch who oversees the women, and let him provide whatever cosmetics they desire. ²³ 

Ester 3:15

3:15 The messengers ²⁴  scurried forth ²⁵  with the king’s order. ²⁶  The edict was issued in Susa the citadel. While the king and Haman sat down to drink, the city of Susa was in an uproar! ²⁷ 

Ester 4:3

4:3 Throughout each and every province where the king’s edict and law were announced ²⁸  there was considerable ²⁹  mourning among the Jews, along with fasting, weeping, and sorrow. ³⁰  Sackcloth and ashes were characteristic ³¹  of many.

Ester 8:17

8:17 Throughout every province and throughout every city where the king’s edict and his law arrived, the Jews experienced happiness and joy, banquets and holidays. Many of the resident peoples ³²  pretended ³³  to be Jews, because the fear of the Jews had overcome them. ³⁴ 

Ester 4:17

4:17 So Mordecai set out to do everything that Esther had instructed him.

Ester 2:12

2:12 At the end of the twelve months that were required for the women, ³⁵  when the turn of each young woman arrived to go to King Ahasuerus – for in this way they had to fulfill their time of cosmetic treatment: six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with perfume and various ointments used by women –

[7:8]  ¹ tn Heb “falling”; NAB, NRSV “had (+ just TEV) thrown himself (+ down TEV).”

[7:8]  ² tn Heb “where Esther was” (so KJV, NASB). The term “lying” has been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons; cf. NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT “was reclining.”

[4:14]  ³ tn Heb “from all the Jews”; KJV “more than all the Jews”; NIV “you alone of all the Jews.”

[4:14]  ⁴ tn Heb “stand”; KJV, NASB, NIV, NLT “arise.”

[4:14]  ⁵ tn Heb “place” (so KJV, NIV, NLT); NRSV “from another quarter.” This is probably an oblique reference to help coming from God. D. J. A. Clines disagrees; in his view a contrast between deliverance by Esther and deliverance by God is inappropriate (Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther [NCBC], 302). But Clines’ suggestion that perhaps the reference is to deliverance by Jewish officials or by armed Jewish revolt is less attractive than seeing this veiled reference as part of the literary strategy of the book, which deliberately keeps God’s providential dealings entirely in the background.

[4:14]  ⁶ tn Heb “And who knows whether” (so NASB). The question is one of hope, but free of presumption. Cf. Jonah 3:9.

[4:14]  ⁷ tn Heb “have come to the kingdom”; NRSV “to royal dignity”; NIV “to royal position”; NLT “have been elevated to the palace.”

[1:14]  ⁸ tn Heb “seers of the face of the king”; NASB “who had access to the king’s presence.”

[1:14]  ⁹ tn Heb “were sitting first”; NAB “held first rank in the realm.”

[1:6]  ¹⁰ sn The finest linen was byssus, a fine, costly, white fabric made in Egypt, Palestine, and Edom, and imported into Persia (BDB 101 s.v. בּוּץ; HALOT 115-16 s.v. בּוּץ).

[1:6]  ¹¹ tn The Hebrew noun מִטָּה (mittah) refers to a reclining couch (cf. KJV “beds”) spread with covers, cloth and pillow for feasting and carousing (Ezek 23:41; Amos 3:12; 6:4; Esth 1:6; 7:8). See BDB 641-42 s.v.; HALOT 573 s.v.

[2:9]  ¹² tn Heb “was good in his eyes”; NLT “Hegai was very impressed with Esther.”

[2:9]  ¹³ tn Heb “being looked at (with favor).”

[2:9]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “of the house of the women” (so KJV, ASV). So also in vv. 11, 13, 14.

[1:22]  ¹⁵ 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]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “in his house”; NIV “over his own household.”

[1:22]  ¹⁷ 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.

[1:5]  ¹⁸ tc The Hebrew text of Esther does not indicate why this elaborate show of wealth and power was undertaken. According to the LXX these were “the days of the wedding” (αἱ ἡμέραι τοῦ γάμου, Jai Jhmerai tou gamou), presumably the king’s wedding. However, a number of scholars have called attention to the fact that this celebration takes place just shortly before Xerxes’ invasion of Greece. It is possible that the banquet was a rallying for the up-coming military effort. See Herodotus, Histories 7.8. There is no reason to adopt the longer reading of the LXX here.

[1:5]  ¹⁹ tc The LXX has ἕξ ({ex, “six”) instead of “seven.” Virtually all English versions follow the reading of the MT here, “seven.”

[1:5]  ²⁰ tn Heb “were found.”

[1:5]  ²¹ tn Heb “from the great and unto the small.”

[2:3]  ²² tn Heb “the house of the women” (so KJV, ASV). So also in vv. 9, 11, 13, and 14.

[2:3]  ²³ tn Heb “their ointments”; cf. NIV, CEV, NLT “beauty treatments.”

[3:15]  ²⁴ tn Heb “runners.” So also in 8:10, 14. Cf. NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV “couriers.”

[3:15]  ²⁵ tn Or “went forth in haste” (so ASV).

[3:15]  ²⁶ tn Heb “with the word of the king.”

[3:15]  ²⁷ sn The city of Susa was in an uproar. This final statement of v. 15 is a sad commentary on the pathetic disregard of despots for the human misery and suffering that they sometimes inflict on those who are helpless to resist their power. Here, while common people braced for the reckless loss of life and property that was about to begin, the perpetrators went about their mundane activities as though nothing of importance was happening.

[4:3]  ²⁸ tn Heb “reached” (so NAB, NLT); KJV, NASB, NIV “came”; TEV “wherever the king’s proclamation was made known.”

[4:3]  ²⁹ tn Heb “great” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV, NLT); NAB “the Jews went into deep mourning.”

[4:3]  ³⁰ sn Although prayer is not specifically mentioned here, it is highly unlikely that appeals to God for help were not a part of this reaction to devastating news. As elsewhere in the book of Esther, the writer seems deliberately to keep religious actions in the background.

[4:3]  ³¹ tn Heb “were spread to many”; KJV, NIV “many (+ people NLT) lay in sackcloth and ashes.”

[8:17]  ³² tn Heb “peoples of the land” (so NASB); NIV “people of other nationalities”; NRSV “peoples of the country.”

[8:17]  ³³ tn Heb “were becoming Jews”; NAB “embraced Judaism.” However, the Hitpael stem of the verb is sometimes used of a feigning action rather than a genuine one (see, e.g., 2 Sam 13:5, 6), which is the way the present translation understands the use of the word here (cf. NEB “professed themselves Jews”; NRSV “professed to be Jews”). This is the only occurrence of this verb in the Hebrew Bible, so there are no exact parallels. However, in the context of v. 17 the motivation of their conversion (Heb “the fear of the Jews had fallen upon them”) should not be overlooked. The LXX apparently understood the conversion described here to be genuine, since it adds the words “they were being circumcised and” before “they became Jews.”

[8:17]  ³⁴ tn Heb “had fallen upon them” (so NRSV); NIV “had seized them.”

[2:12]  ³⁵ tc The LXX does not include the words “that were required for the women.”

[2:12]  tn Heb “to be to her according to the law of the women”; NASB “under the regulations for the women.”