Esther 1:3

1:3 in the third ¹  year of his reign he provided a banquet for all his officials and his servants. The army ²  of Persia and Media ³  was present, ⁴  as well as the nobles and the officials of the provinces.

Esther 10:2

10:2 Now all the actions carried out under his authority and his great achievements, along with an exact statement concerning the greatness of Mordecai, whom the king promoted, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Media and Persia?

Isaiah 13:17

13:17 Look, I am stirring up the Medes to attack them; ⁵ 

they are not concerned about silver,

nor are they interested in gold. ⁶ 

Isaiah 21:2

21:2 I have received a distressing message: ⁷ 

“The deceiver deceives,

the destroyer destroys.

Attack, you Elamites!

Lay siege, you Medes!

I will put an end to all the groaning!” ⁸ 

Daniel 5:28-30

5:28 As for peres ⁹  – your kingdom is divided and given over to the Medes and Persians.”

5:29 Then, on Belshazzar’s orders, ¹⁰  Daniel was clothed in purple, a golden collar was placed around his neck, and he was proclaimed third ruler in the kingdom. 5:30 And in that very night Belshazzar, the Babylonian king, ¹¹  was killed. ¹² 

Daniel 6:8

6:8 Now let the king issue a written interdict ¹³  so that it cannot be altered, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be changed. ¹⁴ 

Daniel 8:3-4

8:3 I looked up ¹⁵  and saw ¹⁶  a ¹⁷  ram with two horns standing at the canal. Its two horns were both long, ¹⁸  but one was longer than the other. The longer one was coming up after the shorter one. 8:4 I saw that the ram was butting westward, northward, and southward. No animal ¹⁹  was able to stand before it, and there was none who could deliver from its power. ²⁰  It did as it pleased and acted arrogantly. ²¹ 

Daniel 8:20

8:20 The ram that you saw with the two horns stands for the kings of Media and Persia.

Daniel 9:1

Daniel Prays for His People

9:1 In the first year of Darius ²²  son of Ahasuerus, ²³  who was of Median descent and who had been ²⁴  appointed king over the Babylonian ²⁵  empire –

¹ sn The third year of Xerxes’ reign would be ca. 483 b.c.

² tc Due to the large numbers of people implied, some scholars suggest that the original text may have read “leaders of the army” (cf. NAB “Persian and Median aristocracy”; NASB “the army officers”; NIV “the military leaders”). However, there is no textual evidence for this emendation, and the large numbers are not necessarily improbable.

³ sn Unlike the Book of Daniel, the usual order for this expression in Esther is “Persia and Media” (cf. vv. 14, 18, 19). In Daniel the order is “Media and Persia,” indicating a time in their history when Media was in the ascendancy.

⁴ sn The size of the banquet described here, the number of its invited guests, and the length of its duration, although certainly immense by any standard, are not without precedent in the ancient world. C. A. Moore documents a Persian banquet for 15,000 people and an Assyrian celebration with 69,574 guests (Esther [AB], 6).

⁵ tn Heb “against them”; NLT “against Babylon.”

⁶ sn They cannot be bought off, for they have a lust for bloodshed.

⁷ tn Heb “a severe revelation has been related to me.”

⁸ sn This is often interpreted to mean “all the groaning” that Babylon has caused others.

⁹ sn Peres (פְּרֵס) is the singular form of פַרְסִין (pharsin) in v. 25.

¹⁰ tn Aram “Belshazzar spoke.”

¹¹ tn Aram “king of the Chaldeans.”

¹² sn The year was 539 B.C. At this time Daniel would have been approximately eighty-one years old. The relevant extra-biblical records describing the fall of Babylon include portions of Herodotus, Xenophon, Berossus (cited in Josephus), the Cyrus Cylinder, and the Babylonian Chronicle.

¹³ tn Aram “establish a written interdict and inscribe a written decree.”

¹⁴ tn Or “removed.”

¹⁵ tn Heb “lifted my eyes.”

¹⁶ tn Heb “and behold.”

¹⁷ tn Heb “one.” The Hebrew numerical adjective occasionally functions like an English indefinite article. See GKC 401 §125.b.

¹⁸ tn Heb “high” (also “higher” later in this verse).

¹⁹ tn Or “beast” (NAB).

²⁰ tn Heb “hand.” So also in v. 7.

²¹ tn In the Hiphil the Hebrew verb גָּדַל (gadal, “to make great; to magnify”) can have either a positive or a negative sense. For the former, used especially of God, see Ps 126:2, 3; Joel 2:21. In this chapter (8:4, 8, 11, 25) the word has a pejorative sense, describing the self-glorification of this king. The sense seems to be that of vainly assuming one’s own superiority through deliberate hubris.

²² sn The identity of this Darius is a major problem in correlating the biblical material with the extra-biblical records of this period. Most modern scholars treat the reference as a mistaken allusion to Darius Hystaspes (ca. 522-486 B.C.). Others have maintained instead that this name is a reference to the Persian governor Gubaru. Still others understand the reference to be to the Persian king Cyrus (cf. 6:28, where the vav (ו) may be understood as vav explicativum, meaning “even”). Under either of these latter two interpretations, the first year of Darius would have been ca. 538 B.C. Daniel would have been approximately eighty-two years old at this time.

²³ tc The LXX reads “Xerxes.” This is the reading used by some English versions (e.g., NIV, NCV, TEV, CEV). Most other English versions retain the Hebrew name “Ahasuerus.”

²⁴ tc The present translation follows the MT in reading a Hophal (i.e., passive). Theodotion, the Syriac, and the Vulgate all presuppose the Hiphil (i.e., active). Even though this is the only occurrence of the Hophal of this verb in the Bible, there is no need to emend the vocalization to the Hiphil.

²⁵ tn Heb “was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans.”