Esther 1:11

1:11 to bring Queen Vashti into the king’s presence wearing her royal high turban. He wanted to show the people and the officials her beauty, for she was very attractive. 1 

Esther 1:16

1:16 Memucan then replied to the king and the officials, “The wrong of Queen Vashti is not against the king alone, but against all the officials and all the people who are throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus.

Esther 2:20

2:20 Esther was still not divulging her lineage or her people, 2  just as Mordecai had instructed her. 3  Esther continued to do whatever Mordecai said, just as she had done when he was raising her.

Esther 7:3

7:3 Queen Esther replied, “If I have met with your approval, 4  O king, and if the king is so inclined, grant me my life as my request, and my people as my petition.

1 tn Heb “was good of appearance”; KJV “was fair to look on”; NAB “was lovely to behold.”

2 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.

3 tc The LXX adds the words “to fear God.”

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