Esther 1:5

1:5 When those days ¹  were completed, the king then provided a seven-day ²  banquet for all the people who were present ³  in Susa the citadel, for those of highest standing to the most lowly. ⁴  It was held in the court located in the garden of the royal palace.

Esther 2:9

2:9 This young woman pleased him, ⁵  and she found favor with him. He quickly provided her with her cosmetics and her rations; he also provided her with the seven specially chosen ⁶  young women who were from the palace. He then transferred her and her young women to the best quarters in the harem. ⁷ 

Esther 2:18

2:18 Then the king prepared a large banquet for all his officials and his servants – it was actually Esther’s banquet. He also set aside a holiday for the provinces, and he provided for offerings at the king’s expense. ⁸ 

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 5:14

5:14 Haman’s ¹²  wife Zeresh and all his friends said to him, “Have a gallows seventy-five feet ¹³  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.” ¹⁴ 

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

Esther 6:10

6:10 The king then said to Haman, “Go quickly! Take the clothing and the horse, just as you have described, and do as you just indicated to Mordecai the Jew who sits at the king’s gate. Don’t neglect ¹⁵  a single thing of all that you have said.”

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, ¹⁶  along with his wife Zeresh, said to him, “If indeed this Mordecai before whom you have begun to fall is Jewish, ¹⁷  you will not prevail against him. No, you will surely fall before him!”

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¹ tc The Hebrew text of Esther does not indicate why this elaborate show of wealth and power was undertaken. According to the LXX these were “the days of the wedding” (αἱ ἡμέραι τοῦ γάμου, Jai Jhmerai tou gamou), presumably the king’s wedding. However, a number of scholars have called attention to the fact that this celebration takes place just shortly before Xerxes’ invasion of Greece. It is possible that the banquet was a rallying for the up-coming military effort. See Herodotus, Histories 7.8. There is no reason to adopt the longer reading of the LXX here.

² tc The LXX has ἕξ ({ex, “six”) instead of “seven.” Virtually all English versions follow the reading of the MT here, “seven.”

³ tn Heb “were found.”

⁴ tn Heb “from the great and unto the small.”

⁵ tn Heb “was good in his eyes”; NLT “Hegai was very impressed with Esther.”

⁶ tn Heb “being looked at (with favor).”

⁷ tn Heb “of the house of the women” (so KJV, ASV). So also in vv. 11, 13, 14.

⁸ tc The LXX does not include the words “and he provided for offerings at the king’s expense.”

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.”

¹² tn Heb “his”; the referent (Haman) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹³ 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.”

¹⁴ tn Or “joyful”; NRSV “in good spirits”; TEV “happy.”

¹⁵ tn Heb “do not let fall”; NASB “do not fall short.”

¹⁶ 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.”

¹⁷ tn Heb “from the seed of the Jews”; KJV, ASV similar.