Esther 1:14

1:14 Those who were closest to him were Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, and Memucan. These men were the seven officials of Persia and Media who saw the king on a regular basis ¹  and had the most prominent offices ²  in the kingdom.

Esther 2:12

2:12 At the end of the twelve months that were required for the women, ³  when the turn of each young woman arrived to go to King Ahasuerus – for in this way they had to fulfill their time of cosmetic treatment: six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with perfume and various ointments used by women –

Esther 3:2

3:2 As a result, ⁴  all the king’s servants who were at the king’s gate were bowing and paying homage to Haman, for the king had so commanded. However, Mordecai did not bow, ⁵  nor did he pay him homage.

Esther 3:6

3:6 But the thought of striking out against ⁶  Mordecai alone was repugnant to him, for he had been informed ⁷  of the identity of Mordecai’s people. ⁸  So Haman sought to destroy all the Jews (that is, the people of Mordecai) ⁹  who were in all the kingdom of Ahasuerus.

Esther 4:8

4:8 He also gave him a written copy of the law that had been disseminated ¹⁰  in Susa for their destruction so that he could show it to Esther and talk to her about it. He also gave instructions that she should go to the king to implore him and petition him on behalf of her people.

Esther 5:14

5:14 Haman’s ¹¹  wife Zeresh and all his friends said to him, “Have a gallows seventy-five feet ¹²  high built, and in the morning tell the king that Mordecai should be hanged on it. Then go with the king to the banquet contented.” ¹³ 

It seemed like a good idea to Haman, so he had the gallows built.

Esther 6:13

6:13 Haman then related to his wife Zeresh and to all his friends everything that had happened to him. These wise men, ¹⁴  along with his wife Zeresh, said to him, “If indeed this Mordecai before whom you have begun to fall is Jewish, ¹⁵  you will not prevail against him. No, you will surely fall before him!”

Esther 7:4

7:4 For we have been sold ¹⁶  – 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 8:17--9:1

8:17 Throughout every province and throughout every city where the king’s edict and his law arrived, the Jews experienced happiness and joy, banquets and holidays. Many of the resident peoples ¹⁷  pretended ¹⁸  to be Jews, because the fear of the Jews had overcome them. ¹⁹ 

The Jews Prevail over Their Enemies

9:1 In the twelfth month (that is, the month of Adar), on its thirteenth day, the edict of the king and his law were to be executed. It was on this day that the enemies of the Jews had supposed that they would gain power over them. But contrary to expectations, the Jews gained power over their enemies.

Esther 9:25

9:25 But when the matter came to the king’s attention, the king ²⁰  gave written orders that Haman’s ²¹  evil intentions that he had devised against the Jews should fall on his own head. He and his sons were hanged on the gallows.

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¹ tn Heb “seers of the face of the king”; NASB “who had access to the king’s presence.”

² tn Heb “were sitting first”; NAB “held first rank in the realm.”

³ tc The LXX does not include the words “that were required for the women.”

tn Heb “to be to her according to the law of the women”; NASB “under the regulations for the women.”

⁴ tn Heb “and” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV). Other modern English versions leave the conjunction untranslated here (NAB, NIV, NCV, NLT).

⁵ sn Mordecai did not bow. The reason for Mordecai’s refusal to bow before Haman is not clearly stated here. Certainly the Jews did not refuse to bow as a matter of principle, as though such an action somehow violated the second command of the Decalogue. Many biblical texts bear witness to their practice of falling prostrate before people of power and influence (e.g., 1 Sam 24:8; 2 Sam 14:4; 1 Kgs 1:16). Perhaps the issue here was that Haman was a descendant of the Amalekites, a people who had attacked Israel in an earlier age (see Exod 17:8-16; 1 Sam 15:17-20; Deut 25:17-19).

⁶ tn Heb “to send a hand against”; KJV, NRSV “to lay hands on.”

⁷ tn Heb “they had related to him.” For stylistic reasons this has been translated as a passive construction.

⁸ tc The entire first half of the verse is not included in the LXX.

⁹ tc This parenthetical phrase is not included in the LXX. Some scholars emend the MT reading עַם (’am, “people”) to עִם (’im, “with”), arguing that the phrase is awkwardly placed and syntactically inappropriate. While there is some truth to their complaint, the MT makes sufficient sense to be acceptable here, and is followed by most English versions.

¹⁰ tn Heb “given” (so KJV); NASB, NRSV, TEV, NLT “issued”; NIV “published”; NAB “promulgated.”

¹¹ tn Heb “his”; the referent (Haman) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹² tn Heb “fifty cubits.” Assuming a standard length for the cubit of about 18 inches (45 cm), this would be about seventy-five feet (22.5 meters), which is a surprisingly tall height for the gallows. Perhaps the number assumes the gallows was built on a large supporting platform or a natural hill for visual effect, in which case the structure itself may have been considerably smaller. Cf. NCV “a seventy-five foot platform”; CEV “a tower built about seventy-five feet high.”

¹³ tn Or “joyful”; NRSV “in good spirits”; TEV “happy.”

¹⁴ tc Part of the Greek tradition and the Syriac Peshitta understand this word as “friends,” probably reading the Hebrew term רֲכָמָיו (rakhamayv, “his friends”) rather than the reading of the MT חֲכָמָיו (hakhamayv, “his wise men”). Cf. NLT “all his friends”; the two readings appear to be conflated by TEV as “those wise friends of his.”

¹⁵ tn Heb “from the seed of the Jews”; KJV, ASV similar.

¹⁶ 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.

¹⁷ tn Heb “peoples of the land” (so NASB); NIV “people of other nationalities”; NRSV “peoples of the country.”

¹⁸ tn Heb “were becoming Jews”; NAB “embraced Judaism.” However, the Hitpael stem of the verb is sometimes used of a feigning action rather than a genuine one (see, e.g., 2 Sam 13:5, 6), which is the way the present translation understands the use of the word here (cf. NEB “professed themselves Jews”; NRSV “professed to be Jews”). This is the only occurrence of this verb in the Hebrew Bible, so there are no exact parallels. However, in the context of v. 17 the motivation of their conversion (Heb “the fear of the Jews had fallen upon them”) should not be overlooked. The LXX apparently understood the conversion described here to be genuine, since it adds the words “they were being circumcised and” before “they became Jews.”

¹⁹ tn Heb “had fallen upon them” (so NRSV); NIV “had seized them.”

²⁰ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

²¹ tn Heb “his”; the referent (Haman) has been specified in the translation for clarity.