Esther 9:29

9:29 So Queen Esther, the daughter of Abihail, and Mordecai the Jew wrote with full authority to confirm this second ¹  letter about Purim.

Esther 1:10

Queen Vashti is Removed from Her Royal Position

1:10 On the seventh day, as King Ahasuerus was feeling the effects of the wine, ²  he ordered Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar, and Carcas, the seven eunuchs who attended him, ³ 

Esther 2:20

2:20 Esther was still not divulging her lineage or her people, ⁴  just as Mordecai had instructed her. ⁵  Esther continued to do whatever Mordecai said, just as she had done when he was raising her.

Esther 3:1

Haman Conspires to Destroy the Jews

3:1 Some time later ⁶  King Ahasuerus promoted ⁷  Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, exalting him and setting his position ⁸  above that of all the officials who were with him.

Esther 7:7

7:7 In rage the king arose from the banquet of wine and withdrew to the palace garden. Meanwhile, Haman stood to beg Queen Esther for his life, ⁹  for he realized that the king had now determined a catastrophic end for him. ¹⁰ 

[9:29]  ¹ tc The LXX and the Syriac Peshitta omit the word “second.”

[1:10]  ² tn Heb “as the heart of the king was good with the wine.” Here the proper name (King Ahasuerus) has been substituted for the title in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[1:10]  ³ tn Heb “King Ahasuerus”; here the proper name has been replaced by the pronoun “him” in the translation for stylistic reasons. Cf. similarly NIV, NCV, CEV, NLT “King Xerxes.”

[2:20]  ³ sn That Esther was able so effectively to conceal her Jewish heritage suggests that she was not consistently observing Jewish dietary and religious requirements. As C. A. Moore observes, “In order for Esther to have concealed her ethnic and religious identity…in the harem, she must have eaten…, dressed, and lived like a Persian rather than an observant Jewess” (Esther [AB], 28.) In this regard her public behavior stands in contrast to that of Daniel, for example.

[2:20]  ⁴ tc The LXX adds the words “to fear God.”

[3:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “after these things” (so KJV, ASV); NAB, NASB, NIV “After these events.”

[3:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “made great”; NAB “raised…to high rank”; NIV “honored.”

[3:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “chair”; KJV, NRSV “seat”; NASB “established his authority.”

[7:7]  ⁵ sn There is great irony here in that the man who set out to destroy all the Jews now finds himself begging for his own life from a Jew.

[7:7]  ⁶ tn Heb “for he saw that calamity was determined for him from the king”; NAB “the king had decided on his doom”; NRSV “the king had determined to destroy him.”