Esther 8:11

8:11 The king thereby allowed the Jews who were in every city to assemble and to stand up for themselves – to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate any army of whatever people or province that should become their adversaries, including their women and children, ¹  and to confiscate their property.

Esther 4:7

4:7 Then Mordecai related to him everything that had happened to him, even the specific amount of money that Haman had offered to pay to the king’s treasuries for the Jews to be destroyed.

Esther 1:6

1:6 The furnishings included linen and purple curtains hung by cords of the finest linen ²  and purple wool on silver rings, alabaster columns, gold and silver couches ³  displayed on a floor made of valuable stones of alabaster, mother-of-pearl, and mineral stone.

Esther 3:13

3:13 Letters were sent by the runners to all the king’s provinces stating that ⁴  they should destroy, kill, and annihilate all the Jews, from youth to elderly, both women and children, ⁵  on a particular day, namely the thirteenth day ⁶  of the twelfth month (that is, the month of Adar), and to loot and plunder their possessions.

Esther 8:9

8:9 The king’s scribes were quickly ⁷  summoned – in the third month (that is, the month of Sivan), on the twenty-third day. ⁸  They wrote out ⁹  everything that Mordecai instructed to the Jews and to the satraps and the governors and the officials of the provinces all the way from India to Ethiopia ¹⁰  – a hundred and twenty-seven provinces in all – to each province in its own script and to each people in their own language, and to the Jews according to their own script and their own language.

¹ tn Heb “children and women.” As in 3:13, the translation follows contemporary English idiom, which reverses the order.

² sn The finest linen was byssus, a fine, costly, white fabric made in Egypt, Palestine, and Edom, and imported into Persia (BDB 101 s.v. בּוּץ; HALOT 115-16 s.v. בּוּץ).

³ tn The Hebrew noun מִטָּה (mittah) refers to a reclining couch (cf. KJV “beds”) spread with covers, cloth and pillow for feasting and carousing (Ezek 23:41; Amos 3:12; 6:4; Esth 1:6; 7:8). See BDB 641-42 s.v.; HALOT 573 s.v.

³ tn The words “stating that” are not in the Hebrew text but have been supplied in the translation for clarity.

⁴ tn Heb “children and women.” The translation follows contemporary English idiom, which reverses the order.

⁵ tc The LXX does not include the words “on the thirteenth day.”

⁴ tn Heb “in that time”; NIV “At once.”

⁵ sn Cf. 3:12. Two months and ten days have passed since Haman’s edict to wipe out the Jews.

⁶ tn Heb “it was written”; this passive construction has been converted to an active one in the translation for clarity and for stylistic reasons.

⁷ tn Heb “Cush” (so NIV), referring to the region of the upper Nile in Africa. Cf. KJV and most other English versions “Ethiopia.”