3:4 Then the herald 1 made a loud 2 proclamation: “To you, O peoples, nations, and language groups, the following command is given: 3
7:14 To him was given ruling authority, honor, and sovereignty.
All peoples, nations, and language groups were serving 6 him.
His authority is eternal and will not pass away. 7
His kingdom will not be destroyed. 8
3:12 So the royal scribes 9 were summoned in the first month, on the thirteenth day of the month. Everything Haman commanded was written to the king’s satraps 10 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.
8:9 The king’s scribes were quickly 11 summoned – in the third month (that is, the month of Sivan), on the twenty-third day. 12 They wrote out 13 everything that Mordecai instructed to the Jews and to the satraps and the governors and the officials of the provinces all the way from India to Ethiopia 14 – a hundred and twenty-seven provinces in all – to each province in its own script and to each people in their own language, and to the Jews according to their own script and their own language.
1 tn According to BDB 1097 s.v. כָּרוֹז the Aramaic word used here is a Greek loanword, but other scholars have argued instead for a Persian derivation (HALOT 1902 s.v. *כָּרוֹז).
2 tn Aram “in strength.”
3 tn Aram “they are saying.”
4 tn Aram “from me is placed an edict.”
5 tn Aram “speaks negligence.”
6 tn Some take “serving” here in the sense of “worshiping.”
7 tn Aram “is an eternal authority which will not pass away.”
8 tn Aram “is one which will not be destroyed.”
9 tn Or “secretaries” (so NIV, NRSV, NLT).
10 tn Or “princes” (so NLT); CEV “highest officials.”
11 tn Heb “in that time”; NIV “At once.”
12 sn Cf. 3:12. Two months and ten days have passed since Haman’s edict to wipe out the Jews.
13 tn Heb “it was written”; this passive construction has been converted to an active one in the translation for clarity and for stylistic reasons.
14 tn Heb “Cush” (so NIV), referring to the region of the upper Nile in Africa. Cf. KJV and most other English versions “Ethiopia.”
15 sn This scene of universal and overwhelming attraction of the nations to Israel’s God finds initial fulfillment in the establishment of the church (Acts 2:5-11) but ultimate completion in the messianic age (Isa 45:14, 24; 60:14; Zech 14:16-21).
16 tn Or “this noise.”
17 tn Or “was bewildered.”