6:1 Throughout that night the king was unable to sleep, 4 so he asked for the book containing the historical records 5 to be brought. As the records 6 were being read in the king’s presence, 6:2 it was found written that Mordecai had disclosed that Bigthana 7 and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs who guarded the entrance, had plotted to assassinate 8 King Ahasuerus.
1 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Gehazi) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
2 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Elisha) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
3 tn Heb “and look, the woman whose son he had brought back to life was crying out to the king for her house and her field.”
4 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.
5 tn Heb “the book of the remembrances of the accounts of the days”; NAB “the chronicle of notable events.”
6 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the records) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
7 tn This individual is referred to as “Bigthan,” a variant spelling of the name, in Esth 2:21.
8 tn Heb “to send a hand against”; NASB “had sought to lay hands on.”
9 sn The penny refers to an assarion, a small Roman copper coin. One of them was worth one-sixteenth of a denarius or less than a half hour’s average wage. Sparrows were the cheapest items sold in the market. God knows about even the most financially insignificant things; see Isa 49:15.
10 tn Or “to the ground without the knowledge and consent of your Father.”
11 sn The phrase by chance adds an initial note of hope and fortune to the expectation in the story.
12 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context between the priest’s expected action (helping the victim) and what he really did.
13 tn Grk “him”; the referent (the injured man) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
14 sn It is not said why the priest passed by and refused to help. It is not relevant to the point of the parable that no help was given in the emergency situation.
15 sn The text suggests that the priest went out of his way (on the other side) not to get too close to the scene.