Esther 4:5

4:5 So Esther called for Hathach, one of the king’s eunuchs who had been placed at her service, ¹  and instructed him to find out the cause and reason for Mordecai’s behavior. ² 

Esther 6:1

The Turning Point: The King Honors Mordecai

6:1 Throughout that night the king was unable to sleep, ³  so he asked for the book containing the historical records ⁴  to be brought. As the records ⁵  were being read in the king’s presence,

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 ⁶  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. ⁷  Now I have not been invited to come to the king for some thirty days!”

Esther 2:14

2:14 In the evening she went, and in the morning she returned to a separate part ⁸  of the harem, to the authority of Shaashgaz the king’s eunuch who was overseeing the concubines. She would not go back to the king unless the king was pleased with her ⁹  and she was requested by name.

Esther 5:12

5:12 Haman said, “Furthermore, Queen Esther invited ¹⁰  only me to accompany the king to the banquet that she prepared! And also tomorrow I am invited ¹¹  along with the king.

Esther 6:9

6:9 Then let this clothing and this horse be given to one of the king’s noble officials. Let him ¹²  then clothe the man whom the king wishes to honor, and let him lead him about through the plaza of the city on the horse, calling ¹³  before him, ‘So shall it be done to the man whom the king wishes to honor!’”

Esther 6:11

6:11 So Haman took the clothing and the horse, and he clothed Mordecai. He led him about on the horse throughout the plaza of the city, calling before him, “So shall it be done to the man whom the king wishes to honor!”

Esther 9:26

9:26 For this reason these days are known as Purim, after the name of pur.

Esther 3:12

3:12 So the royal scribes ¹⁴  were summoned in the first month, on the thirteenth day of the month. Everything Haman commanded was written to the king’s satraps ¹⁵  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.

Esther 8:9

8:9 The king’s scribes were quickly ¹⁶  summoned – in the third month (that is, the month of Sivan), on the twenty-third day. ¹⁷  They wrote out ¹⁸  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 ¹⁹  – 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.

[4:5]  ¹ tn Heb “whom he caused to stand before her”; NASB “whom the king had appointed to attend her.”

[4:5]  ² tn Heb “concerning Mordecai, to know what this was, and why this was.”

[6:1]  ³ tn Heb “and the sleep of the king fled.” In place of the rather innocuous comment of the Hebrew text, the LXX reads here, “And the Lord removed the sleep from the king.” The Greek text thus understands the statement in a more overtly theological way than does the Hebrew text, although even in the Hebrew text there may be a hint of God’s providence at work in this matter. After all, this event is crucial to the later reversal of Haman’s plot to destroy the Jewish people, and a sympathetic reader is likely to look beyond the apparent coincidence.

[6:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “the book of the remembrances of the accounts of the days”; NAB “the chronicle of notable events.”

[6:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “they”; the referent (the records) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[4:11]  ⁵ tn Heb “one is his law”; NASB “he (the king NIV) has but one law”

[4:11]  ⁶ tn Heb “and he will live”; KJV, ASV “that he may live”; NIV “and spare his life.”

[2:14]  ⁷ tn Heb “second.” The numerical adjective שֵׁנִי (sheniy, “second”) is difficult here. As a modifier for “house” in v. 14 the word would presumably refer to a second part of the harem, one which was under the supervision of a separate official. But in this case the definite article would be expected before “second” (cf. LXX τὸν δεύτερον, ton deuteron). Some scholars emend the text to שֵׁנִית (shenit, “a second time”), but this does not completely resolve the difficulty since the meaning remains unclear. The translation adopted above follows the LXX and understands the word to refer to a separate group of women in the king’s harem, a group housed apparently in a distinct part of the residence complex.

[2:14]  ⁸ tc The LXX does not include the words “was pleased with her.”

[5:12]  ⁹ tn Heb “caused to come”; KJV “did let no man come in…but myself.”

[5:12]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “called to her”; KJV “invited unto her”; NAB “I am to be her guest.”

[6:9]  ¹¹ tc The present translation reads with the LXX וְהִלְבִּישׁוֹ (vÿhilbisho, “and he will clothe him”) rather than the reading of the MT וְהִלְבִּישׁוּ (vÿhilbishu, “and they will clothe”). The reading of the LXX is also followed by NAB, NRSV, TEV, CEV, and NLT. Likewise, the later verbs in this verse (“cause him to ride” and “call”) are better taken as singulars rather than plurals.

[6:9]  ¹² tn Heb “and let them call” (see the previous note).

[3:12]  ¹³ tn Or “secretaries” (so NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[3:12]  ¹⁴ tn Or “princes” (so NLT); CEV “highest officials.”

[8:9]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “in that time”; NIV “At once.”

[8:9]  ¹⁶ sn Cf. 3:12. Two months and ten days have passed since Haman’s edict to wipe out the Jews.

[8:9]  ¹⁷ 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]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “Cush” (so NIV), referring to the region of the upper Nile in Africa. Cf. KJV and most other English versions “Ethiopia.”