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 2:3

2:3 And let the king appoint officers throughout all the provinces of his kingdom to gather all the attractive young women to Susa the citadel, to the harem ³  under the authority of Hegai, the king’s eunuch who oversees the women, and let him provide whatever cosmetics they desire. ⁴ 

Esther 3:6

3:6 But the thought of striking out against ⁵  Mordecai alone was repugnant to him, for he had been informed ⁶  of the identity of Mordecai’s people. ⁷  So Haman sought to destroy all the Jews (that is, the people of Mordecai) ⁸  who were in all the kingdom of Ahasuerus.

Esther 3:8

3:8 Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a particular people ⁹  that is dispersed and spread among the inhabitants ¹⁰  throughout all the provinces of your kingdom whose laws differ from those of all other peoples. Furthermore, they do not observe the king’s laws. It is not appropriate for the king to provide a haven for them. ¹¹ 

Esther 7:2

7:2 On the second day of the banquet of wine the king asked Esther, “What is your request, Queen Esther? It shall be granted to you. And what is your petition? Ask up to half the kingdom, and it shall be done!”

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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 tn Heb “the house of the women” (so KJV, ASV). So also in vv. 9, 11, 13, and 14.

⁴ tn Heb “their ointments”; cf. NIV, CEV, NLT “beauty treatments.”

⁵ tn Heb “to send a hand against”; KJV, NRSV “to lay hands on.”

⁶ tn Heb “they had related to him.” For stylistic reasons this has been translated as a passive construction.

⁷ tc The entire first half of the verse is not included in the LXX.

⁸ 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.

⁹ tn Heb “one people.” Note the subtle absence at this point of a specific mention of the Jewish people by name.

¹⁰ tn Heb “peoples” (so NASB, NIV); NAB “nations”

¹¹ tn Heb “to cause them to rest”; NASB “to let them remain”; NAB, NIV, NRSV “to tolerate them.”