Esther 3:15

3:15 The messengers ¹  scurried forth ²  with the king’s order. ³  The edict was issued in Susa the citadel. While the king and Haman sat down to drink, the city of Susa was in an uproar! ⁴ 

Psalms 14:4

14:4 All those who behave wickedly ⁵  do not understand – ⁶ 

those who devour my people as if they were eating bread,

and do not call out to the Lord.

Proverbs 30:20

30:20 This is the way ⁷  of an adulterous ⁸  woman:

she eats and wipes her mouth ⁹ 

and says, “I have not done wrong.” ¹⁰ 

Amos 6:6

6:6 They drink wine from sacrificial bowls, ¹¹ 

and pour the very best oils on themselves. ¹² 

Yet they are not concerned over ¹³  the ruin ¹⁴  of Joseph.

[3:15]  ¹ tn Heb “runners.” So also in 8:10, 14. Cf. NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV “couriers.”

[3:15]  ² tn Or “went forth in haste” (so ASV).

[3:15]  ³ tn Heb “with the word of the king.”

[3:15]  ⁴ sn The city of Susa was in an uproar. This final statement of v. 15 is a sad commentary on the pathetic disregard of despots for the human misery and suffering that they sometimes inflict on those who are helpless to resist their power. Here, while common people braced for the reckless loss of life and property that was about to begin, the perpetrators went about their mundane activities as though nothing of importance was happening.

[14:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “all the workers of wickedness.” See Pss 5:5; 6:8.

[14:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “Do they not understand?” The rhetorical question (rendered in the translation as a positive affirmation) expresses the psalmist’s amazement at their apparent lack of understanding. This may refer to their lack of moral understanding, but it more likely refers to their failure to anticipate God’s defense of his people (see vv. 5-7).

[30:20]  ⁷ sn Equally amazing is the insensitivity of the adulterous woman to the sin. The use of the word “way” clearly connects this and the preceding material. Its presence here also supports the interpretation of the final clause in v. 19 as referring to sexual intimacy. While that is a wonder of God’s creation, so is the way that human nature has distorted it and ruined it.

[30:20]  ⁸ sn The word clearly indicates that the woman is married and unchaste; but the text describes her as amoral as much as immoral – she sees nothing wrong with what she does.

[30:20]  ⁹ sn The acts of “eating” and “wiping her mouth” are euphemistic; they employ an implied comparison between the physical act of eating and wiping one’s mouth afterward on the one hand with sexual activity on the other hand (e.g., Prov 9:17).

[30:20]  ¹⁰ sn This is the amazing part of the observation. It is one thing to sin, for everyone sins, but to dismiss the act of adultery so easily, as if it were no more significant than a meal, is incredibly brazen.

[6:6]  ¹¹ sn Perhaps some religious rite is in view, or the size of the bowls is emphasized (i.e., bowls as large as sacrificial bowls).

[6:6]  ¹² tn Heb “with the best of oils they anoint [themselves].”

[6:6]  ¹³ tn Or “not sickened by.”

[6:6]  ¹⁴ sn The ruin of Joseph may refer to the societal disintegration in Israel, or to the effects of the impending judgment.