Esther 6:9

6:9 Then let this clothing and this horse be given to one of the king’s noble officials. Let him ¹  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 ²  before him, ‘So shall it be done to the man whom the king wishes to honor!’”

Esther 8:9

8:9 The king’s scribes were quickly ³  summoned – in the third month (that is, the month of Sivan), on the twenty-third day. ⁴  They wrote out ⁵  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 ⁶  – 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.

[6:9]  ¹ 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]  ² tn Heb “and let them call” (see the previous note).

[8:9]  ³ tn Heb “in that time”; NIV “At once.”

[8:9]  ⁴ sn Cf. 3:12. Two months and ten days have passed since Haman’s edict to wipe out the Jews.

[8:9]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ tn Heb “Cush” (so NIV), referring to the region of the upper Nile in Africa. Cf. KJV and most other English versions “Ethiopia.”