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 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, 3 along with his wife Zeresh, said to him, “If indeed this Mordecai before whom you have begun to fall is Jewish, 4 you will not prevail against him. No, you will surely fall before him!”
Esther 9:12
9:12 Then the king said to Queen Esther, “In Susa the citadel the Jews have killed and destroyed five hundred men and the ten sons of Haman! What then have they done in the rest of the king’s provinces? What is your request? It shall be given to you. What other petition do you have? It shall be done.”
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 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.”
4 tn Heb “from the seed of the Jews”; KJV, ASV similar.