Esther 7:4

7:4 For we have been sold ¹  – both I and my people – to destruction and to slaughter and to annihilation! If we had simply been sold as male and female slaves, I would have remained silent, for such distress would not have been sufficient for troubling the king.”

Esther 7:3

7:3 Queen Esther replied, “If I have met with your approval, ²  O king, and if the king is so inclined, grant me my life as my request, and my people as my petition.

[7:4]  ¹ sn The passive verb (“have been sold”) is noncommittal and nonaccusatory with regard to the king’s role in the decision to annihilate the Jews.

[7:3]  ² tn Heb “If I have found grace in your eyes” (so also in 8:5); TEV “If it please Your Majesty.”