6:1 Throughout that night the king was unable to sleep, 3 so he asked for the book containing the historical records 4 to be brought. As the records 5 were being read in the king’s presence,
6:3 The king asked, “What great honor 6 was bestowed on Mordecai because of this?” The king’s attendants who served him responded, “Not a thing was done for him.”
1 tn These words are not present in the Hebrew text, but have been supplied in the translation for clarity (cf. NIV, NCV, CEV, NLT, all of which supply similar phrases).
2 tc The location of the prepositional phrase “according to law” is somewhat unusual in the Hebrew text, but not so much so as to require emendation. Some scholars suggest deleting the phrase as an instance of dittography from the final part of the immediately preceding word in v. 14. Others suggest taking the phrase with the end of v. 14 rather than with v. 15. Both proposals, however, lack adequate justification.
3 tn Heb “and the sleep of the king fled.” In place of the rather innocuous comment of the Hebrew text, the LXX reads here, “And the Lord removed the sleep from the king.” The Greek text thus understands the statement in a more overtly theological way than does the Hebrew text, although even in the Hebrew text there may be a hint of God’s providence at work in this matter. After all, this event is crucial to the later reversal of Haman’s plot to destroy the Jewish people, and a sympathetic reader is likely to look beyond the apparent coincidence.
4 tn Heb “the book of the remembrances of the accounts of the days”; NAB “the chronicle of notable events.”
5 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the records) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
6 tn Heb “honor and greatness.” The expression is a hendiadys (see the note on 5:10 for an explanation of this figure).