28:1 “If you indeed 5 obey the Lord your God and are careful to observe all his commandments I am giving 6 you today, the Lord your God will elevate you above all the nations of the earth.
22:23 If a virgin is engaged to a man and another man meets 7 her in the city and has sexual relations with 8 her,
1 tn Heb “If upon the king it is good”; KJV “If it please the king.”
2 tn Heb “let it be written” (so KJV, ASV); NASB “let it be decreed.”
3 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.
4 tn Heb “given” (so KJV); NASB, NRSV, TEV, NLT “issued”; NIV “published”; NAB “promulgated.”
5 tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation indicates with “indeed.”
6 tn Heb “commanding”; NAB “which I enjoin on you today” (likewise in v. 15).
7 tn Heb “finds.”
8 tn Heb “lies with.”