1 Kings 3:5

3:5 One night in Gibeon the Lord appeared¹ to Solomon in a dream. God said, “Tell² me what I should give you.”

Esther 5:3

5:3 The king said to her, “What is on your mind,³ Queen Esther? What is your request? Even as much as half the kingdom will be given to you!”

Esther 5:6

5:6 While at the banquet of wine, the king said to Esther, “What is your request? It shall be given to you. What is your petition? Ask for as much as half the kingdom,⁴ and it shall be done!”

Esther 7:2

7:2 On the second day of the banquet of wine the king asked Esther, “What is your request, Queen Esther? It shall be granted to you. And what is your petition? Ask up to half the kingdom, and it shall be done!”

Mark 10:51

10:51 Then⁵ Jesus said to him,⁶ “What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man replied, “Rabbi,⁷ let me see again.”⁸

¹tn Or “revealed himself.”

²tn Heb “ask.”

³tn Heb “What to you?”; NAB, NIV NRSV “What is it, Queen Esther?”

⁴sn As much as half the kingdom. Such a statement would no doubt have been understood for the exaggeration that it clearly was. Cf. the similar NT scene recorded in Mark 6:23, where Herod makes a similar promise to the daughter of Herodias. In that case the request was for the head of John the Baptist, which is a lot less than half the kingdom.

⁵tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

⁶tn Grk “And answering, Jesus said to him.” The participle ἀποκριθείς is redundant and has not been translated.

⁷tn Or “Master”; Grk ῥαββουνί (rabbouni).

⁸tn Grk “that I may see [again].” The phrase can be rendered as an imperative of request, “Please, give me sight.” Since the man is not noted as having been blind from birth (as the man in John 9 was) it is likely the request is to receive back the sight he once had.