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 9:4

9:4 Mordecai was of high rank ²  in the king’s palace, and word about him was spreading throughout all the provinces. His influence ³  continued to become greater and greater.

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.

² tn Heb “great”; NRSV “powerful”; NIV “prominent”; NCV “very important.”

³ tn Heb “the man Mordecai” (so NASB, NRSV).