20:1 Now a wicked man 1 named Sheba son of Bicri, a Benjaminite, 2 happened to be there. He blew the trumpet 3 and said,
“We have no share in David;
we have no inheritance in this son of Jesse!
Every man go home, 4 O Israel!”
3:8 Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a particular people 5 that is dispersed and spread among the inhabitants 6 throughout all the provinces of your kingdom whose laws differ from those of all other peoples. Furthermore, they do not observe the king’s laws. It is not appropriate for the king to provide a haven for them. 7 3:9 If the king is so inclined, 8 let an edict be issued 9 to destroy them. I will pay ten thousand talents of silver 10 to be conveyed to the king’s treasuries for the officials who carry out this business.”
3:10 So the king removed his signet ring 11 from his hand and gave it to Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, who was hostile toward the Jews. 3:11 The king replied to Haman, “Keep your money, 12 and do with those people whatever you wish.” 13
3:12 So the royal scribes 14 were summoned in the first month, on the thirteenth day of the month. Everything Haman commanded was written to the king’s satraps 15 and governors who were in every province and to the officials of every people, province by province according to its script and people by people according to its language. In the name of King Ahasuerus it was written and sealed with the king’s signet ring. 3:13 Letters were sent by the runners to all the king’s provinces stating that 16 they should destroy, kill, and annihilate all the Jews, from youth to elderly, both women and children, 17 on a particular day, namely the thirteenth day 18 of the twelfth month (that is, the month of Adar), and to loot and plunder their possessions. 3:14 A copy of this edict was to be presented as law throughout every province; it was to be made known to all the inhabitants, 19 so that they would be prepared for this day. 3:15 The messengers 20 scurried forth 21 with the king’s order. 22 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! 23
9:1 In the twelfth month (that is, the month of Adar), on its thirteenth day, the edict of the king and his law were to be executed. It was on this day that the enemies of the Jews had supposed that they would gain power over them. But contrary to expectations, the Jews gained power over their enemies. 9:2 The Jews assembled themselves in their cities throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus to strike out against those who were seeking their harm. No one was able to stand before them, for dread of them fell on all the peoples. 9:3 All the officials of the provinces, the satraps, the governors and those who performed the king’s business were assisting the Jews, for the dread of Mordecai had fallen on them. 9:4 Mordecai was of high rank 24 in the king’s palace, and word about him was spreading throughout all the provinces. His influence 25 continued to become greater and greater.
9:5 The Jews struck all their enemies with the sword, bringing death and destruction, and they did as they pleased with their enemies. 9:6 In Susa the citadel the Jews killed and destroyed five hundred men. 9:7 In addition, they also killed Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha, 9:8 Poratha, Adalia, Aridatha, 9:9 Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai, and Vaizatha, 9:10 the ten sons of Haman son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews. But they did not confiscate their property.
9:11 On that same day the number of those killed in Susa the citadel was brought to the king’s attention. 9:12 Then the king said to Queen Esther, “In Susa the citadel the Jews have killed and destroyed five hundred men and the ten sons of Haman! What then have they done in the rest of the king’s provinces? What is your request? It shall be given to you. What other petition do you have? It shall be done.”
9:13 Esther replied, “If the king is so inclined, let the Jews who are in Susa be permitted to act tomorrow also according to today’s law, and let them hang the ten sons of Haman on the gallows.”
9:14 So the king issued orders for this to be done. A law was passed in Susa, and the ten sons of Haman were hanged. 9:15 The Jews who were in Susa then assembled on the fourteenth day of the month of Adar, and they killed three hundred men in Susa. But they did not confiscate their property.
9:16 The rest of the Jews who were throughout the provinces of the king assembled in order to stand up for themselves and to have rest from their enemies. They killed seventy-five thousand 26 of their adversaries, but they did not confiscate their property.
1 tn Heb “a man of worthlessness.”
2 tn The expression used here יְמִינִי (yÿmini) is a short form of the more common “Benjamin.” It appears elsewhere in 1 Sam 9:4 and Esth 2:5. Cf. 1 Sam 9:1.
3 tn Heb “the shophar” (the ram’s horn trumpet). So also v. 22.
4 tc The MT reads לְאֹהָלָיו (lÿ’ohalav, “to his tents”). For a similar idiom, see 19:9. An ancient scribal tradition understands the reading to be לְאלֹהָיו (le’lohav, “to his gods”). The word is a tiqqun sopherim, and the scribes indicate that they changed the word from “gods” to “tents” so as to soften its theological implications. In a consonantal Hebrew text the change involved only the metathesis of two letters.
5 tn Heb “one people.” Note the subtle absence at this point of a specific mention of the Jewish people by name.
6 tn Heb “peoples” (so NASB, NIV); NAB “nations”
7 tn Heb “to cause them to rest”; NASB “to let them remain”; NAB, NIV, NRSV “to tolerate them.”
8 tn Heb “If upon the king it is good”; KJV “If it please the king.”
9 tn Heb “let it be written” (so KJV, ASV); NASB “let it be decreed.”
10 sn The enormity of the monetary sum referred to here can be grasped by comparing this amount (10,000 talents of silver) to the annual income of the empire, which according to Herodotus (Histories 3.95) was 14,500 Euboic talents. In other words Haman is offering the king a bribe equal to two-thirds of the royal income. Doubtless this huge sum of money was to come (in large measure) from the anticipated confiscation of Jewish property and assets once the Jews had been destroyed. That such a large sum of money is mentioned may indicate something of the economic standing of the Jewish population in the empire of King Ahasuerus.
11 sn Possessing the king’s signet ring would enable Haman to act with full royal authority. The king’s ring would be used to impress the royal seal on edicts, making them as binding as if the king himself had enacted them.
12 tn Heb “the silver is given to you”; NRSV “the money is given to you”; CEV “You can keep their money.” C. A. Moore (Esther [AB], 40) understands these words somewhat differently, taking them to imply acceptance of the money on Xerxes’ part. He translates, “Well, it’s your money.”
13 tn Heb “according to what is good in your eyes”; NASB “do with them as you please.”
14 tn Or “secretaries” (so NIV, NRSV, NLT).
15 tn Or “princes” (so NLT); CEV “highest officials.”
16 tn The words “stating that” are not in the Hebrew text but have been supplied in the translation for clarity.
17 tn Heb “children and women.” The translation follows contemporary English idiom, which reverses the order.
18 tc The LXX does not include the words “on the thirteenth day.”
19 tn Heb “peoples” (so NASB, NRSV).
20 tn Heb “runners.” So also in 8:10, 14. Cf. NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV “couriers.”
21 tn Or “went forth in haste” (so ASV).
22 tn Heb “with the word of the king.”
23 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.
24 tn Heb “great”; NRSV “powerful”; NIV “prominent”; NCV “very important.”
25 tn Heb “the man Mordecai” (so NASB, NRSV).
26 tc For this number much of the Greek
27 tn Grk “makes itself,” “is made.”
28 tn Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.
29 sn The word translated hell is “Gehenna” (γέεννα, geenna), a Greek transliteration of the Hebrew words ge hinnom (“Valley of Hinnom”). This was the valley along the south side of Jerusalem. In OT times it was used for human sacrifices to the pagan god Molech (cf. Jer 7:31; 19:5-6; 32:35), and it came to be used as a place where human excrement and rubbish were disposed of and burned. In the intertestamental period, it came to be used symbolically as the place of divine punishment (cf. 1 En. 27:2, 90:26; 4 Ezra 7:36).