Esther 5:13

5:13 Yet all of this fails to satisfy me so long as I have to see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king’s gate.”

Esther 7:4

7:4 For we have been sold ¹  – both I and my people – to destruction and to slaughter and to annihilation! If we had simply been sold as male and female slaves, I would have remained silent, for such distress would not have been sufficient for troubling the king.”

Esther 3:8

3:8 Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a particular people ²  that is dispersed and spread among the inhabitants ³  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. ⁴ 

¹ sn The passive verb (“have been sold”) is noncommittal and nonaccusatory with regard to the king’s role in the decision to annihilate the Jews.

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.”