3:8 Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a particular people 1 that is dispersed and spread among the inhabitants 2 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. 3 3:9 If the king is so inclined, 4 let an edict be issued 5 to destroy them. I will pay ten thousand talents of silver 6 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 7 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, 8 and do with those people whatever you wish.” 9
5:14 Haman’s 10 wife Zeresh and all his friends said to him, “Have a gallows seventy-five feet 11 high built, and in the morning tell the king that Mordecai should be hanged on it. Then go with the king to the banquet contented.” 12
It seemed like a good idea to Haman, so he had the gallows built.
The king said, “Hang him on it!”
5:13 He catches 15 the wise in their own craftiness, 16
and the counsel of the cunning 17 is brought to a quick end. 18
2:4 The one enthroned 19 in heaven laughs in disgust; 20
the Lord taunts 21 them.
33:19 by saving their lives from death 22
and sustaining them during times of famine. 23
1 tn Heb “one people.” Note the subtle absence at this point of a specific mention of the Jewish people by name.
2 tn Heb “peoples” (so NASB, NIV); NAB “nations”
3 tn Heb “to cause them to rest”; NASB “to let them remain”; NAB, NIV, NRSV “to tolerate them.”
4 tn Heb “If upon the king it is good”; KJV “If it please the king.”
5 tn Heb “let it be written” (so KJV, ASV); NASB “let it be decreed.”
6 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.
7 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.
8 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.”
9 tn Heb “according to what is good in your eyes”; NASB “do with them as you please.”
10 tn Heb “his”; the referent (Haman) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
11 tn Heb “fifty cubits.” Assuming a standard length for the cubit of about 18 inches (45 cm), this would be about seventy-five feet (22.5 meters), which is a surprisingly tall height for the gallows. Perhaps the number assumes the gallows was built on a large supporting platform or a natural hill for visual effect, in which case the structure itself may have been considerably smaller. Cf. NCV “a seventy-five foot platform”; CEV “a tower built about seventy-five feet high.”
12 tn Or “joyful”; NRSV “in good spirits”; TEV “happy.”
13 sn Cf. 1:10, where Harbona is one of the seven eunuchs sent by the king to summon Queen Vashti to his banquet.
14 tn Heb “fifty cubits.” See the note on this expression in Esth 5:14.
15 tn The participles continue the description of God. Here he captures or ensnares the wise in their wickedly clever plans. See also Ps 7:16, where the wicked are caught in the pit they have dug – they are only wise in their own eyes.
16 sn This is the only quotation from the Book of Job in the NT (although Rom 11:35 seems to reflect 41:11, and Phil 1:19 is similar to 13:6). Paul cites it in 1 Cor 3:19.
17 tn The etymology of נִפְתָּלִים (niftalim) suggests a meaning of “twisted” (see Prov 8:8) in the sense of tortuous. See Gen 30:8; Ps 18:26 [27].
18 tn The Niphal of מָהַר (mahar) means “to be hasty; to be irresponsible.” The meaning in the line may be understood in this sense: The counsel of the wily is hastened, that is, precipitated before it is ripe, i.e., frustrated (A. B. Davidson, Job, 39).
19 tn Heb “sitting.” The Hebrew verb יָשַׁב (yashav) is here used metonymically of “sitting enthroned” (see Pss 9:7; 29:10; 55:19; 102:12; 123:1).
20 tn As the next line indicates, this refers to derisive laughter. The Hebrew imperfect verbal forms in vv. 4-5 describe the action from the perspective of an eyewitness who is watching the divine response as it unfolds before his eyes.
21 tn Or “scoffs at”; “derides”; “mocks.”
22 tn Heb “to save from death their live[s].”
23 tn Heb “and to keep them alive in famine.”