Esther 3:5

3:5 When Haman saw that Mordecai was not bowing or paying homage to him, he ¹  was filled with rage.

Esther 4:8

4:8 He also gave him a written copy of the law that had been disseminated ²  in Susa for their destruction so that he could show it to Esther and talk to her about it. He also gave instructions that she should go to the king to implore him and petition him on behalf of her people.

Esther 6:13

6:13 Haman then related to his wife Zeresh and to all his friends everything that had happened to him. These wise men, ³  along with his wife Zeresh, said to him, “If indeed this Mordecai before whom you have begun to fall is Jewish, ⁴  you will not prevail against him. No, you will surely fall before him!”

Esther 5:4

5:4 Esther replied, “If the king is so inclined, ⁵  let the king and Haman come today to the banquet that I have prepared for him.”

Esther 2:7

2:7 Now he was acting as the guardian ⁶  of Hadassah ⁷  (that is, Esther), the daughter of his uncle, for neither her father nor her mother was alive. ⁸  This young woman was very attractive and had a beautiful figure. ⁹  When her father and mother died, Mordecai had raised her ¹⁰  as if she were his own daughter.

Esther 3:2

3:2 As a result, ¹¹  all the king’s servants who were at the king’s gate were bowing and paying homage to Haman, for the king had so commanded. However, Mordecai did not bow, ¹²  nor did he pay him homage.

Esther 3:6

3:6 But the thought of striking out against ¹³  Mordecai alone was repugnant to him, for he had been informed ¹⁴  of the identity of Mordecai’s people. ¹⁵  So Haman sought to destroy all the Jews (that is, the people of Mordecai) ¹⁶  who were in all the kingdom of Ahasuerus.

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 5:14

5:14 Haman’s ¹⁷  wife Zeresh and all his friends said to him, “Have a gallows seventy-five feet ¹⁸  high built, and in the morning tell the king that Mordecai should be hanged on it. Then go with the king to the banquet contented.” ¹⁹ 

It seemed like a good idea to Haman, so he had the gallows built.

Esther 6:4

6:4 Then the king said, “Who is that in the courtyard?” Now Haman had come to the outer courtyard of the palace to suggest that the king hang Mordecai on the gallows that he had constructed for him.

Esther 6:6

6:6 So Haman came in, and the king said to him, “What should be done for the man whom the king wishes to honor?” Haman thought to himself, ²⁰  “Who is it that the king would want to honor more than me?”

Esther 8:3

8:3 Then Esther again spoke with the king, falling at his feet. She wept and begged him for mercy, that he might nullify the evil of Haman the Agagite which he had intended against the Jews. ²¹ 

Esther 2:15

2:15 When it became the turn of Esther daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai (who had raised her as if she were his own daughter ²² ) to go to the king, she did not request anything except what Hegai the king’s eunuch, who was overseer of the women, had recommended. Yet Esther met with the approval of all who saw her.

Esther 4:11

4:11 “All the servants of the king and the people of the king’s provinces know that there is only one law applicable ²³  to any man or woman who comes uninvited to the king in the inner court – that person will be put to death, unless the king extends to him the gold scepter, permitting him to be spared. ²⁴  Now I have not been invited to come to the king for some thirty days!”

[3:5]  ¹ tn Heb “Haman.” The pronoun (“he”) was used in the translation for stylistic reasons. Repeating the proper name here is redundant according to contemporary English style, although the name is repeated in NASB and NRSV.

[4:8]  ² tn Heb “given” (so KJV); NASB, NRSV, TEV, NLT “issued”; NIV “published”; NAB “promulgated.”

[6:13]  ³ tc Part of the Greek tradition and the Syriac Peshitta understand this word as “friends,” probably reading the Hebrew term רֲכָמָיו (rakhamayv, “his friends”) rather than the reading of the MT חֲכָמָיו (hakhamayv, “his wise men”). Cf. NLT “all his friends”; the two readings appear to be conflated by TEV as “those wise friends of his.”

[6:13]  ⁴ tn Heb “from the seed of the Jews”; KJV, ASV similar.

[5:4]  ⁴ tn Heb “If upon the king it is good”; NASB “If it please the king.”

[2:7]  ⁵ tn According to HALOT 64 s.v. II אמן the term אֹמֵן (’omen) means: (1) “attendant” of children (Num 11:12; Isa 49:23); (2) “guardian” (2 Kgs 10:1, 5; Esth 2:7); (3) “nurse-maid” (2 Sam 4:4; Ruth 4:16); and (4) “to look after” (Isa 60:4; Lam 4:5). Older lexicons did not distinguish this root from the homonym I אָמַן (’aman, “to support; to confirm”; cf. BDB 52 s.v. אָמַן). This is reflected in a number of translations by use of a phrase like “brought up” (KJV, ASV, RSV, NIV) or “bringing up” (NASB).

[2:7]  ⁶ sn Hadassah is a Jewish name that probably means “myrtle”; the name Esther probably derives from the Persian word for “star,” although some scholars derive it from the name of the Babylonian goddess Ishtar. Esther is not the only biblical character for whom two different names were used. Daniel (renamed Belteshazzar) and his three friends Hananiah (renamed Shadrach), Mishael (renamed Meshach), and Azariah (renamed Abednego) were also given different names by their captors.

[2:7]  ⁷ tn Heb “for there was not to her father or mother.” This is universally understood to mean Esther’s father and mother were no longer alive.

[2:7]  ⁸ tn Heb “beautiful of form.” The Hebrew noun תֹּאַר (to’ar, “form; shape”) is used elsewhere to describe the physical bodily shape of a beautiful woman (Gen 29:17; Deut 21:11; 1 Sam 25:3); see BDB 1061 s.v. Cf. TEV “had a good figure.”

[2:7]  ⁹ tn Heb “had taken her to him.” The Hebrew verb לָקַח (laqakh, “to take”) describes Mordecai adopting Esther and treating her like his own daughter: “to take as one’s own property” as a daughter (HALOT 534 s.v. I לקח 6).

[3:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “and” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV). Other modern English versions leave the conjunction untranslated here (NAB, NIV, NCV, NLT).

[3:2]  ⁷ sn Mordecai did not bow. The reason for Mordecai’s refusal to bow before Haman is not clearly stated here. Certainly the Jews did not refuse to bow as a matter of principle, as though such an action somehow violated the second command of the Decalogue. Many biblical texts bear witness to their practice of falling prostrate before people of power and influence (e.g., 1 Sam 24:8; 2 Sam 14:4; 1 Kgs 1:16). Perhaps the issue here was that Haman was a descendant of the Amalekites, a people who had attacked Israel in an earlier age (see Exod 17:8-16; 1 Sam 15:17-20; Deut 25:17-19).

[3:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “to send a hand against”; KJV, NRSV “to lay hands on.”

[3:6]  ⁸ tn Heb “they had related to him.” For stylistic reasons this has been translated as a passive construction.

[3:6]  ⁹ tc The entire first half of the verse is not included in the LXX.

[3:6]  ¹⁰ tc This parenthetical phrase is not included in the LXX. Some scholars emend the MT reading עַם (’am, “people”) to עִם (’im, “with”), arguing that the phrase is awkwardly placed and syntactically inappropriate. While there is some truth to their complaint, the MT makes sufficient sense to be acceptable here, and is followed by most English versions.

[5:14]  ⁸ tn Heb “his”; the referent (Haman) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[5:14]  ⁹ tn Heb “fifty cubits.” Assuming a standard length for the cubit of about 18 inches (45 cm), this would be about seventy-five feet (22.5 meters), which is a surprisingly tall height for the gallows. Perhaps the number assumes the gallows was built on a large supporting platform or a natural hill for visual effect, in which case the structure itself may have been considerably smaller. Cf. NCV “a seventy-five foot platform”; CEV “a tower built about seventy-five feet high.”

[5:14]  ¹⁰ tn Or “joyful”; NRSV “in good spirits”; TEV “happy.”

[6:6]  ⁹ tn Heb “said in his heart” (so ASV); NASB, NRSV “said to himself.”

[8:3]  ¹⁰ sn As in 7:4 Esther avoids implicating the king in this plot. Instead Haman is given sole responsibility for the plan to destroy the Jews.

[2:15]  ¹¹ tn Heb “who had taken her to him as a daughter”; NRSV “who had adopted her as his own daughter.”

[4:11]  ¹² tn Heb “one is his law”; NASB “he (the king NIV) has but one law”

[4:11]  ¹³ tn Heb “and he will live”; KJV, ASV “that he may live”; NIV “and spare his life.”