2 Chronicles 30:6

30:6 Messengers ¹  delivered the letters from the king and his officials throughout Israel and Judah.

This royal edict read: ²  “O Israelites, return to the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, so he may return ³  to you who have been spared from the kings of Assyria. ⁴ 

Esther 3:13

3:13 Letters were sent by the runners to all the king’s provinces stating that ⁵  they should destroy, kill, and annihilate all the Jews, from youth to elderly, both women and children, ⁶  on a particular day, namely the thirteenth day ⁷  of the twelfth month (that is, the month of Adar), and to loot and plunder their possessions.

Esther 3:15

3:15 The messengers ⁸  scurried forth ⁹  with the king’s order. ¹⁰  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! ¹¹ 

Esther 8:10

8:10 Mordecai ¹²  wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed it with the king’s signet ring. He then sent letters by couriers on horses, who rode royal horses that were very swift.

Esther 8:14

8:14 The couriers who were riding the royal horses went forth with the king’s edict without delay. ¹³  And the law was presented in Susa the citadel as well.

Job 9:25

Renewed Complaint

9:25 “My days ¹⁴  are swifter than a runner, ¹⁵ 

they speed by without seeing happiness.

¹ tn Heb “the runners.”

² tn Heb “and according to the command of the king, saying.”

³ tn The jussive with vav conjunctive indicates purpose/result after the preceding imperative.

⁴ tn Heb “to the survivors who are left to you from the palm of the kings of Assyria.”

⁵ tn The words “stating that” are not in the Hebrew text but have been supplied in the translation for clarity.

⁶ tn Heb “children and women.” The translation follows contemporary English idiom, which reverses the order.

⁷ tc The LXX does not include the words “on the thirteenth day.”

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

⁹ tn Or “went forth in haste” (so ASV).

¹⁰ tn Heb “with the word of the king.”

¹¹ 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.

¹² tn Heb “He”; the referent (Mordecai) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹³ tn Heb “making haste and hurrying”; KJV, ASV “being hastened and pressed.”

¹⁴ tn The text has “and my days” following the thoughts in the previous section.

¹⁵ sn Job returns to the thought of the brevity of his life (7:6). But now the figure is the swift runner instead of the weaver’s shuttle.