Esther 3:12-13

3:12 So the royal scribes ¹  were summoned in the first month, on the thirteenth day of the month. Everything Haman commanded was written to the king’s satraps ²  and governors who were in every province and to the officials of every people, province by province according to its script and people by people according to its language. In the name of King Ahasuerus it was written and sealed with the king’s signet ring. 3:13 Letters were sent by the runners to all the king’s provinces stating that ³  they should destroy, kill, and annihilate all the Jews, from youth to elderly, both women and children, ⁴  on a particular day, namely the thirteenth day ⁵  of the twelfth month (that is, the month of Adar), and to loot and plunder their possessions.

Exodus 13:3-8

13:3 Moses said to the people, “Remember ⁶  this day on which you came out from Egypt, from the place where you were enslaved, ⁷  for the Lord brought you out of there ⁸  with a mighty hand – and no bread made with yeast may be eaten. ⁹  13:4 On this day, ¹⁰  in the month of Abib, ¹¹  you are going out. ¹² 

13:5 When ¹³  the Lord brings you to the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Hivites, and Jebusites, which he swore to your fathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, ¹⁴  then you will keep ¹⁵  this ceremony ¹⁶  in this month. 13:6 For seven days ¹⁷  you must eat ¹⁸  bread made without yeast, and on the seventh day there is to be ¹⁹  a festival to the Lord. 13:7 Bread made without yeast must be eaten ²⁰  for seven days; ²¹  no bread made with yeast shall be seen ²²  among you, and you must have no yeast among you within any of your borders.

13:8 You are to tell your son ²³  on that day, ²⁴  ‘It is ²⁵  because of what ²⁶  the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt.’

Psalms 103:2

103:2 Praise the Lord, O my soul!

Do not forget all his kind deeds! ²⁷ 

Isaiah 12:1-2

12:1 At that time ²⁸  you will say:

“I praise you, O Lord,

for even though you were angry with me,

your anger subsided, and you consoled me.

12:2 Look, God is my deliverer! ²⁹ 

I will trust in him ³⁰  and not fear.

For the Lord gives me strength and protects me; ³¹ 

he has become my deliverer.” ³² 

Isaiah 14:3

14:3 When the Lord gives you relief from your suffering and anxiety, ³³  and from the hard labor which you were made to perform,

[3:12]  ¹ tn Or “secretaries” (so NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[3:12]  ² tn Or “princes” (so NLT); CEV “highest officials.”

[3:13]  ³ tn The words “stating that” are not in the Hebrew text but have been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[3:13]  ⁴ tn Heb “children and women.” The translation follows contemporary English idiom, which reverses the order.

[3:13]  ⁵ tc The LXX does not include the words “on the thirteenth day.”

[13:3]  ⁶ tn The form is the infinitive absolute of זָכַר (zakhar, “remember”). The use of this form in place of the imperative (also found in the Decalogue with the Sabbath instruction) stresses the basic meaning of the root word, everything involved with remembering (emphatic imperative, according to GKC 346 §113.bb). The verb usually implies that there will be proper action based on what was remembered.

[13:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “from a house of slaves.” “House” is obviously not meant to be literal; it indicates a location characterized by slavery, a land of slaves, as if they were in a slave house. Egypt is also called an “iron-smelting furnace” (Deut 4:20).

[13:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “from this” [place].

[13:3]  ⁹ tn The verb is a Niphal imperfect; it could be rendered “must not be eaten” in the nuance of the instruction or injunction category, but permission fits this sermonic presentation very well – nothing with yeast may be eaten.

[13:4]  ¹⁰ tn The word הַיּוֹם (hayyom) means literally “the day, today, this day.” In this sentence it functions as an adverbial accusative explaining when the event took place.

[13:4]  ¹¹ sn Abib appears to be an old name for the month, meaning something like “[month of] fresh young ears” (Lev 2:14 [Heb]) (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 106). B. Jacob (Exodus, 364) explains that these names were not precise designations, but general seasons based on the lunar year in the agricultural setting.

[13:4]  ¹² tn The form is the active participle, functioning verbally.

[13:5]  ¹³ tn Heb “and it will be when.”

[13:5]  ¹⁴ tn See notes on Exod 3:8.

[13:5]  ¹⁵ tn The verb is וְעָבַדְתָּ (vÿ’avadta), the Qal perfect with a vav (ו) consecutive. It is the equivalent of the imperfect tense of instruction or injunction; it forms the main point after the temporal clause – “when Yahweh brings you out…then you will serve.”

[13:5]  ¹⁶ tn The object is a cognate accusative for emphasis on the meaning of the service – “you will serve this service.” W. C. Kaiser notes how this noun was translated “slavery” and “work” in the book, but “service” or “ceremony” for Yahweh. Israel was saved from slavery to Egypt into service for God as remembered by this ceremony (“Exodus,” EBC 2:383).

[13:6]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “Seven days.”

[13:6]  ¹⁸ tn The imperfect tense functions with the nuance of instruction or injunction. It could also be given an obligatory nuance: “you must eat” or “you are to eat.” Some versions have simply made it an imperative.

[13:6]  ¹⁹ tn The phrase “there is to be” has been supplied.

[13:7]  ²⁰ tn The imperfect has the nuance of instruction or injunction again, but it could also be given an obligatory nuance.

[13:7]  ²¹ tn The construction is an adverbial accusative of time, answering how long the routine should be followed (see GKC 374 §118.k).

[13:7]  ²² tn Or “visible to you” (B. Jacob, Exodus, 366).

[13:8]  ²³ tn The form is the Hiphil perfect with the vav (ו) consecutive, carrying the sequence forward: “and you will declare to your son.”

[13:8]  ²⁴ tn Heb “day, saying.” “Tell…saying” is redundant, so “saying” has not been included in the translation here.

[13:8]  ²⁵ tn “it is” has been supplied.

[13:8]  ²⁶ tn The text uses זֶה (zeh), which Gesenius classifies as the use of the pronoun to introduce a relative clause after the preposition (GKC 447 §138.h) – but he thinks the form is corrupt. B. S. Childs, however, sees no reason to posit a corruption in this form (Exodus [OTL], 184).

[103:2]  ²⁷ tn Or “his benefits” (see 2 Chr 32:25, where the noun is also used of kind deeds performed by the Lord).

[12:1]  ²⁸ tn Or “in that day” (KJV).

[12:2]  ²⁹ tn Or “salvation” (KJV, NIV, NRSV).

[12:2]  ³⁰ tn The words “in him” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[12:2]  ³¹ tc The Hebrew text has, “for my strength and protection [is] the Lord, the Lord (Heb “Yah, Yahweh).” The word יְהוָה (yehvah) is probably dittographic or explanatory here (note that the short form of the name [יָהּ, yah] precedes, and that the graphically similar וַיְהִי [vayÿhi] follows). Exod 15:2, the passage from which the words of v. 2b are taken, has only יָהּ. The word זִמְרָת (zimrat) is traditionally understood as meaning “song,” in which case one might translate, “for the Lord gives me strength and joy” (i.e., a reason to sing); note that in v. 5 the verb זָמַר (zamar, “sing”) appears. Many recent commentators, however, have argued that the noun is here instead a homonym, meaning “protection” or “strength.” See HALOT 274 s.v. III *זמר.

[12:2]  ³² tn Or “salvation” (so many English versions, e.g., KJV, NIV, NRSV, NLT); NAB “my savior.”

[14:3]  ³³ tn The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.