Esther 2:4

2:4 Let the young woman whom the king finds most attractive 1  become queen in place of Vashti.” This seemed like a good idea to the king, 2  so he acted accordingly.

Esther 2:23

2:23 The king then had the matter investigated and, finding it to be so, had the two conspirators 3  hanged on a gallows. 4  It was then recorded in the daily chronicles in the king’s presence.

Esther 3:9

3:9 If the king is so inclined, 5  let an edict be issued 6  to destroy them. I will pay ten thousand talents of silver 7  to be conveyed to the king’s treasuries for the officials who carry out this business.”

Esther 3:14

3:14 A copy of this edict was to be presented as law throughout every province; it was to be made known to all the inhabitants, 8  so that they would be prepared for this day.

Esther 4:5

4:5 So Esther called for Hathach, one of the king’s eunuchs who had been placed at her service, 9  and instructed him to find out the cause and reason for Mordecai’s behavior. 10 

Esther 6:1

The Turning Point: The King Honors Mordecai

6:1 Throughout that night the king was unable to sleep, 11  so he asked for the book containing the historical records 12  to be brought. As the records 13  were being read in the king’s presence,

Esther 6:6

6:6 So Haman came in, and the king said to him, “What should be done for the man whom the king wishes to honor?” Haman thought to himself, 14  “Who is it that the king would want to honor more than me?”

Esther 7:3

7:3 Queen Esther replied, “If I have met with your approval, 15  O king, and if the king is so inclined, grant me my life as my request, and my people as my petition.

Esther 8:13

8:13 A copy of the edict was to be presented as law throughout each and every province and made known to all peoples, so that the Jews might be prepared on that 16  day to avenge themselves from their enemies.

Esther 9:13

9:13 Esther replied, “If the king is so inclined, let the Jews who are in Susa be permitted to act tomorrow also according to today’s law, and let them hang the ten sons of Haman on the gallows.”

1 tn Heb “who is good in the eyes of the king.”

2 tn Heb “the matter was good in the eyes of the king.” Cf. TEV “The king thought this was good advice.”

3 tn Heb “they both were hanged.” The referent (the two eunuchs who conspired against the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

4 tn Or “on a pole”; KJV, ASV “on a tree.”

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

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

7 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.

8 tn Heb “peoples” (so NASB, NRSV).

9 tn Heb “whom he caused to stand before her”; NASB “whom the king had appointed to attend her.”

10 tn Heb “concerning Mordecai, to know what this was, and why this was.”

11 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.

12 tn Heb “the book of the remembrances of the accounts of the days”; NAB “the chronicle of notable events.”

13 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the records) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

14 tn Heb “said in his heart” (so ASV); NASB, NRSV “said to himself.”

15 tn Heb “If I have found grace in your eyes” (so also in 8:5); TEV “If it please Your Majesty.”

16 tn Heb “this” (so NASB); most English versions read “that” here for stylistic reasons.