Esther 1:16-17

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. 1:17 For the matter concerning the queen will spread to all the women, leading them to treat their husbands with contempt, saying, ‘When King Ahasuerus gave orders to bring Queen Vashti into his presence, she would not come.’

Esther 3:9

3:9 If the king is so inclined, 1  let an edict be issued 2  to destroy them. I will pay ten thousand talents of silver 3  to be conveyed to the king’s treasuries for the officials who carry out this business.”

Esther 8:10

8:10 Mordecai 4  wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed it with the king’s signet ring. He then sent letters by couriers on horses, who rode royal horses that were very swift.

1 tn Heb “If upon the king it is good”; KJV “If it please the king.”

2 tn Heb “let it be written” (so KJV, ASV); NASB “let it be decreed.”

3 sn The enormity of the monetary sum referred to here can be grasped by comparing this amount (10,000 talents of silver) to the annual income of the empire, which according to Herodotus (Histories 3.95) was 14,500 Euboic talents. In other words Haman is offering the king a bribe equal to two-thirds of the royal income. Doubtless this huge sum of money was to come (in large measure) from the anticipated confiscation of Jewish property and assets once the Jews had been destroyed. That such a large sum of money is mentioned may indicate something of the economic standing of the Jewish population in the empire of King Ahasuerus.

4 tn Heb “He”; the referent (Mordecai) has been specified in the translation for clarity.