Genesis 40:20

40:20 On the third day it was Pharaoh’s birthday, so he gave a feast for all his servants. He “lifted up” ¹  the head of the chief cupbearer and the head of the chief baker in the midst of his servants.

Esther 1:3-7

1:3 in the third ²  year of his reign he provided a banquet for all his officials and his servants. The army ³  of Persia and Media ⁴  was present, ⁵  as well as the nobles and the officials of the provinces.

1:4 He displayed the riches of his royal glory and the splendor of his majestic greatness for a lengthy period of time ⁶  – a hundred and eighty days, to be exact! ⁷  1:5 When those days ⁸  were completed, the king then provided a seven-day ⁹  banquet for all the people who were present ¹⁰  in Susa the citadel, for those of highest standing to the most lowly. ¹¹  It was held in the court located in the garden of the royal palace. 1:6 The furnishings included linen and purple curtains hung by cords of the finest linen ¹²  and purple wool on silver rings, alabaster columns, gold and silver couches ¹³  displayed on a floor made of valuable stones of alabaster, mother-of-pearl, and mineral stone. 1:7 Drinks ¹⁴  were served in golden containers, all of which differed from one another. Royal wine was available in abundance at the king’s expense.

Esther 2:18

2:18 Then the king prepared a large banquet for all his officials and his servants – it was actually Esther’s banquet. He also set aside a holiday for the provinces, and he provided for offerings at the king’s expense. ¹⁵ 

Proverbs 31:4-5

31:4 It is not for kings, ¹⁶  O Lemuel,

it is not for kings to drink wine, ¹⁷ 

or for rulers to crave strong drink, ¹⁸ 

31:5 lest they drink and forget what is decreed,

and remove ¹⁹  from all the poor ²⁰  their legal rights. ²¹ 

Daniel 5:1-4

Belshazzar Sees Mysterious Handwriting on a Wall

5:1 King Belshazzar ²²  prepared a great banquet ²³  for a thousand of his nobles, and he was drinking wine in front of ²⁴  them all. ²⁵  5:2 While under the influence ²⁶  of the wine, Belshazzar issued an order to bring in the gold and silver vessels – the ones that Nebuchadnezzar his father ²⁷  had confiscated ²⁸  from the temple in Jerusalem ²⁹  – so that the king and his nobles, together with his wives and his concubines, could drink from them. ³⁰  5:3 So they brought the gold and silver ³¹  vessels that had been confiscated from the temple, the house of God ³²  in Jerusalem, and the king and his nobles, together with his wives and concubines, drank from them. 5:4 As they drank wine, they praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone.

Hosea 7:5

7:5 At the celebration ³³  of their king, ³⁴ 

his princes become inflamed ³⁵  with wine;

they conspire ³⁶  with evildoers.

Hosea 7:1

7:1 whenever I want to heal Israel,

the sin of Ephraim is revealed,

and the evil deeds of Samaria are exposed.

For they do what is wrong;

thieves break into houses,

and gangs rob people out in the streets.

Hosea 4:3

4:3 Therefore the land will mourn,

and all its inhabitants will perish. ³⁷ 

The wild animals, ³⁸  the birds of the sky,

and even the fish in the sea will perish.

Revelation 11:10

11:10 And those who live on the earth will rejoice over them and celebrate, even sending gifts to each other, because these two prophets had tormented those who live on the earth.

[40:20]  ¹ tn The translation puts the verb in quotation marks because it is used rhetorically here and has a double meaning. With respect to the cup bearer it means “reinstate” (see v. 13), but with respect to the baker it means “decapitate” (see v. 19).

[1:3]  ² sn The third year of Xerxes’ reign would be ca. 483 b.c.

[1:3]  ³ tc Due to the large numbers of people implied, some scholars suggest that the original text may have read “leaders of the army” (cf. NAB “Persian and Median aristocracy”; NASB “the army officers”; NIV “the military leaders”). However, there is no textual evidence for this emendation, and the large numbers are not necessarily improbable.

[1:3]  ⁴ sn Unlike the Book of Daniel, the usual order for this expression in Esther is “Persia and Media” (cf. vv. 14, 18, 19). In Daniel the order is “Media and Persia,” indicating a time in their history when Media was in the ascendancy.

[1:3]  ⁵ sn The size of the banquet described here, the number of its invited guests, and the length of its duration, although certainly immense by any standard, are not without precedent in the ancient world. C. A. Moore documents a Persian banquet for 15,000 people and an Assyrian celebration with 69,574 guests (Esther [AB], 6).

[1:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “many days” (so KJV, ASV); NASB, NRSV “for many days.”

[1:4]  ⁷ tn The words “to be exact!” are not in the Hebrew text but have been supplied in the translation to bring out the clarifying nuance of the time period mentioned. Cf. KJV “even an hundred and fourscore days.”

[1:5]  ⁸ tc The Hebrew text of Esther does not indicate why this elaborate show of wealth and power was undertaken. According to the LXX these were “the days of the wedding” (αἱ ἡμέραι τοῦ γάμου, Jai Jhmerai tou gamou), presumably the king’s wedding. However, a number of scholars have called attention to the fact that this celebration takes place just shortly before Xerxes’ invasion of Greece. It is possible that the banquet was a rallying for the up-coming military effort. See Herodotus, Histories 7.8. There is no reason to adopt the longer reading of the LXX here.

[1:5]  ⁹ tc The LXX has ἕξ ({ex, “six”) instead of “seven.” Virtually all English versions follow the reading of the MT here, “seven.”

[1:5]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “were found.”

[1:5]  ¹¹ tn Heb “from the great and unto the small.”

[1:6]  ¹² sn The finest linen was byssus, a fine, costly, white fabric made in Egypt, Palestine, and Edom, and imported into Persia (BDB 101 s.v. בּוּץ; HALOT 115-16 s.v. בּוּץ).

[1:6]  ¹³ tn The Hebrew noun מִטָּה (mittah) refers to a reclining couch (cf. KJV “beds”) spread with covers, cloth and pillow for feasting and carousing (Ezek 23:41; Amos 3:12; 6:4; Esth 1:6; 7:8). See BDB 641-42 s.v.; HALOT 573 s.v.

[1:7]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “to cause to drink” (Hiphil infinitive construct of שָׁקָה, shaqah). As the etymology of the Hebrew word for “banquet” (מִשְׁתֶּה, mishteh, from שָׁתָה, shatah, “to drink”) hints, drinking was a prominent feature of ancient Near Eastern banquets.

[2:18]  ¹⁵ tc The LXX does not include the words “and he provided for offerings at the king’s expense.”

[31:4]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “[It is] not for kings.”

[31:4]  ¹⁷ sn This second warning for kings concerns the use of alcohol. If this passage is meant to prohibit any use of alcohol by kings, it would be unheard of in any ancient royal court. What is probably meant is an excessive and unwarranted use of alcohol, or a troubling need for it, so that the meaning is “to drink wine in excess” (cf. NLT “to guzzle wine”; CEV “should not get drunk”). The danger, of course, would be that excessive use of alcohol would cloud the mind and deprive a king of true administrative ability and justice.

[31:4]  ¹⁸ tn The MT has אֵו (’ev), a Kethib/Qere reading. The Kethib is אוֹ (’o) but the Qere is אֵי (’ey). Some follow the Qere and take the word as a shortened form of וַֹיֵּה, “where?” This would mean the ruler would be always asking for drink (cf. ASV). Others reconstruct to אַוֵּה (’avveh, “to desire; to crave”). In either case, the verse would be saying that a king is not to be wanting/seeking alcohol.

[31:5]  ¹⁹ tn The verb means “change,” perhaps expressed in reversing decisions or removing rights.

[31:5]  ²⁰ tn Heb “all the children of poverty.” This expression refers to the poor by nature. Cf. KJV, NASB, NRSV “the afflicted”; NIV “oppressed.”

[31:5]  ²¹ sn The word is דִּין (din, “judgment”; so KJV). In this passage it refers to the cause or the plea for justice, i.e., the “legal rights.”

[5:1]  ²² sn As is clear from the extra-biblical records, it was actually Nabonidus (ca. 556-539 B.C.) who was king of Babylon at this time. However, Nabonidus spent long periods of time at Teima, and during those times Belshazzar his son was de facto king of Babylon. This arrangement may help to explain why later in this chapter Belshazzar promises that the successful interpreter of the handwriting on the wall will be made third ruler in the kingdom. If Belshazzar was in effect second ruler in the kingdom, this would be the highest honor he could grant.

[5:1]  ²³ sn This scene of a Babylonian banquet calls to mind a similar grandiose event recorded in Esth 1:3-8. Persian kings were also renowned in the ancient Near Eastern world for their lavish banquets.

[5:1]  ²⁴ sn The king probably sat at an elevated head table.

[5:1]  ²⁵ tn Aram “the thousand.”

[5:2]  ²⁶ tn Or perhaps, “when he had tasted” (cf. NASB) in the sense of officially initiating the commencement of the banquet. The translation above seems preferable, however, given the clear evidence of inebriation in the context (cf. also CEV “he got drunk and ordered”).

[5:2]  ²⁷ tn Or “ancestor”; or “predecessor” (also in vv. 11, 13, 18). The Aramaic word translated “father” can on occasion denote these other relationships.

[5:2]  ²⁸ tn Or “taken.”

[5:2]  ²⁹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[5:2]  ³⁰ sn Making use of sacred temple vessels for an occasion of reveling and drunkenness such as this would have been a religious affront of shocking proportions to the Jewish captives.

[5:3]  ³¹ tc The present translation reads וְכַסְפָּא (vÿkhaspa’, “and the silver”) with Theodotion and the Vulgate. Cf. v. 2. The form was probably accidentally dropped from the Aramaic text by homoioteleuton.

[5:3]  ³² tn Aram “the temple of the house of God.” The phrase seems rather awkward. The Vulgate lacks “of the house of God,” while Theodotion and the Syriac lack “the house.”

[7:5]  ³³ tn Heb “the day of” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV); NIV “On the day of the festival of our king”; NLT “On royal holidays.”

[7:5]  ³⁴ tc The MT preserves the awkward 1st person common plural suffix reading מַלְכֵּנוּ (malakenu, “our king”). The BHS editors suggest reading the 3rd person masculine plural suffix מַלְכָּם (malkam, “their king”; so CEV), as reflected in the Aramaic Targum.

[7:5]  ³⁵ tc The MT vocalizes the consonants החלו as הֶחֱלוּ a Hiphil perfect 3rd person common plural from I חָלָה (“to become sick”). However, this is syntactically awkward. The BHS editors suggest revocalizing it as Hiphil infinitive construct + 3rd person masculine singular suffix from חָלַל (khalal, “to begin”) or Hiphil perfect 3rd person common plural from חָלַל. For a discussion of this textual problem, see D. Barthélemy, ed., Preliminary and Interim Report on the Hebrew Old Testament Text Project, 5:240.

[7:5]  ³⁶ tn Heb “he joined hands”; NCV “make agreements.”

[4:3]  ³⁷ tn Or “languish” (so KJV, NRSV); NIV “waste away.”

[4:3]  ³⁸ tn Heb “the beasts of the field” (so NAB, NIV).