Esther 1:1
Context1:1 1 The following events happened 2 in the days of Ahasuerus. 3 (I am referring to 4 that Ahasuerus who used to rule over a hundred and twenty-seven provinces 5 extending all the way from India to Ethiopia. 6 )
Esther 8:9
Context8:9 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.
[1:1] 1 sn In the English Bible Esther appears adjacent to Ezra-Nehemiah and with the historical books, but in the Hebrew Bible it is one of five short books (the so-called Megillot) that appear toward the end of the biblical writings. The canonicity of the book was questioned by some in ancient Judaism and early Christianity. It is one of five OT books that were at one time regarded as antilegomena (i.e., books “spoken against”). The problem with Esther was the absence of any direct mention of God. Some questioned whether a book that did not mention God could be considered sacred scripture. Attempts to resolve this by discovering the tetragrammaton (
[1:1] 2 tn Heb “it came about”; KJV, ASV “Now it came to pass.”
[1:1] 3 tn Where the Hebrew text has “Ahasuerus” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV) in this book the LXX has “Artaxerxes.” The ruler mentioned in the Hebrew text is Xerxes I (ca. 486-465
[1:1] 4 tn Heb “in the days of Ahasuerus, that Ahasuerus who used to rule…” The phrase “I am referring to” has been supplied to clarify the force of the third person masculine singular pronoun, which is functioning like a demonstrative pronoun.
[1:1] 5 sn The geographical extent of the Persian empire was vast. The division of Xerxes’ empire into 127 smaller provinces was apparently done for purposes of administrative efficiency.
[1:1] 6 tn Heb “Cush” (so NIV, NCV; KJV “Ethiopia”) referring to the region of the upper Nile in Africa. India and Cush (i.e., Ethiopia) are both mentioned in a tablet taken from the foundation of Xerxes’ palace in Persepolis that describes the extent of this empire. See ANET 316-17.
[8:9] 7 tn Heb “in that time”; NIV “At once.”
[8:9] 8 sn Cf. 3:12. Two months and ten days have passed since Haman’s edict to wipe out the Jews.
[8:9] 9 tn Heb “it was written”; this passive construction has been converted to an active one in the translation for clarity and for stylistic reasons.
[8:9] 10 tn Heb “Cush” (so NIV), referring to the region of the upper Nile in Africa. Cf. KJV and most other English versions “Ethiopia.”