Esther 1:5

1:5 When those days ¹  were completed, the king then provided a seven-day ²  banquet for all the people who were present ³  in Susa the citadel, for those of highest standing to the most lowly. ⁴  It was held in the court located in the garden of the royal palace.

Esther 5:8

5:8 If I have found favor in the king’s sight and if the king is inclined ⁵  to grant my request and perform my petition, let the king and Haman come tomorrow to the banquet that I will prepare for them. At that time ⁶  I will do as the king wishes. ⁷ 

Esther 6:2

6:2 it was found written that Mordecai had disclosed that Bigthana ⁸  and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs who guarded the entrance, had plotted to assassinate ⁹  King Ahasuerus.

Esther 7:3

7:3 Queen Esther replied, “If I have met with your approval, ¹⁰  O king, and if the king is so inclined, grant me my life as my request, and my people as my petition.

[1:5]  ¹ tc The Hebrew text of Esther does not indicate why this elaborate show of wealth and power was undertaken. According to the LXX these were “the days of the wedding” (αἱ ἡμέραι τοῦ γάμου, Jai Jhmerai tou gamou), presumably the king’s wedding. However, a number of scholars have called attention to the fact that this celebration takes place just shortly before Xerxes’ invasion of Greece. It is possible that the banquet was a rallying for the up-coming military effort. See Herodotus, Histories 7.8. There is no reason to adopt the longer reading of the LXX here.

[1:5]  ² tc The LXX has ἕξ ({ex, “six”) instead of “seven.” Virtually all English versions follow the reading of the MT here, “seven.”

[1:5]  ³ tn Heb “were found.”

[1:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “from the great and unto the small.”

[5:8]  ⁵ tn Heb “if upon the king it is good.” Cf. the similar expression in v. 4, which also occurs in 7:3; 8:5; 9:13.

[5:8]  ⁶ tn Heb “and tomorrow” (so NASB); NAB, NRSV “and then.”

[5:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “I will do according to the word of the king,” i.e., answer the question that he has posed. Cf. NCV “Then I will answer your question about what I want.”

[6:2]  ⁹ tn This individual is referred to as “Bigthan,” a variant spelling of the name, in Esth 2:21.

[6:2]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “to send a hand against”; NASB “had sought to lay hands on.”

[7:3]  ¹³ tn Heb “If I have found grace in your eyes” (so also in 8:5); TEV “If it please Your Majesty.”