Esther 3:1

Haman Conspires to Destroy the Jews

3:1 Some time later ¹  King Ahasuerus promoted ²  Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, exalting him and setting his position ³  above that of all the officials who were with him.

Esther 6:1

The Turning Point: The King Honors Mordecai

6:1 Throughout that night the king was unable to sleep, ⁴  so he asked for the book containing the historical records ⁵  to be brought. As the records ⁶  were being read in the king’s presence,

Esther 8:10

8:10 Mordecai ⁷  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.

Esther 8:14

8:14 The couriers who were riding the royal horses went forth with the king’s edict without delay. ⁸  And the law was presented in Susa the citadel as well.

Esther 9:3

9:3 All the officials of the provinces, the satraps, the governors and those who performed the king’s business were assisting the Jews, for the dread of Mordecai had fallen on them.

Esther 9:15

9:15 The Jews who were in Susa then assembled on the fourteenth day of the month of Adar, and they killed three hundred men in Susa. But they did not confiscate their property.

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¹ tn Heb “after these things” (so KJV, ASV); NAB, NASB, NIV “After these events.”

² tn Heb “made great”; NAB “raised…to high rank”; NIV “honored.”

sn The promotion of Haman in 3:1 for reasons unexplained contrasts noticeably with 2:19-23, where Mordecai’s contribution to saving the king’s life goes unnoticed. The irony is striking.

³ tn Heb “chair”; KJV, NRSV “seat”; NASB “established his authority.”

⁴ 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.

⁵ tn Heb “the book of the remembrances of the accounts of the days”; NAB “the chronicle of notable events.”

⁶ tn Heb “they”; the referent (the records) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁷ tn Heb “He”; the referent (Mordecai) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁸ tn Heb “making haste and hurrying”; KJV, ASV “being hastened and pressed.”