Esther 2:23

2:23 The king then had the matter investigated and, finding it to be so, had the two conspirators ¹  hanged on a gallows. ²  It was then recorded in the daily chronicles in the king’s presence.

Esther 6:1

The Turning Point: The King Honors Mordecai

6:1 Throughout that night the king was unable to sleep, ³  so he asked for the book containing the historical records ⁴  to be brought. As the records ⁵  were being read in the king’s presence,

Esther 1:5

1:5 When those days ⁶  were completed, the king then provided a seven-day ⁷  banquet for all the people who were present ⁸  in Susa the citadel, for those of highest standing to the most lowly. ⁹  It was held in the court located in the garden of the royal palace.

Esther 9:27

9:27 Therefore, because of the account found in this letter and what they had faced in this regard and what had happened to them, the Jews established as binding on themselves, their descendants, and all who joined their company that they should observe these two days without fail, just as written and at the appropriate time on an annual basis.

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?

¹ tn Heb “they both were hanged.” The referent (the two eunuchs who conspired against the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

² tn Or “on a pole”; KJV, ASV “on a tree.”

³ 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.

⁴ tn Heb “the book of the remembrances of the accounts of the days”; NAB “the chronicle of notable events.”

⁵ tn Heb “they”; the referent (the records) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁵ tc The Hebrew text of Esther does not indicate why this elaborate show of wealth and power was undertaken. According to the LXX these were “the days of the wedding” (αἱ ἡμέραι τοῦ γάμου, Jai Jhmerai tou gamou), presumably the king’s wedding. However, a number of scholars have called attention to the fact that this celebration takes place just shortly before Xerxes’ invasion of Greece. It is possible that the banquet was a rallying for the up-coming military effort. See Herodotus, Histories 7.8. There is no reason to adopt the longer reading of the LXX here.

⁶ tc The LXX has ἕξ ({ex, “six”) instead of “seven.” Virtually all English versions follow the reading of the MT here, “seven.”

⁷ tn Heb “were found.”

⁸ tn Heb “from the great and unto the small.”