Esther 3:12

3:12 So the royal scribes ¹  were summoned in the first month, on the thirteenth day of the month. Everything Haman commanded was written to the king’s satraps ²  and governors who were in every province and to the officials of every people, province by province according to its script and people by people according to its language. In the name of King Ahasuerus it was written and sealed with the king’s signet ring.

Esther 4:14

4:14 “Don’t imagine that because you are part of the king’s household you will be the one Jew ³  who will escape. If you keep quiet at this time, liberation and protection for the Jews will appear ⁴  from another source, ⁵  while you and your father’s household perish. It may very well be ⁶  that you have achieved royal status ⁷  for such a time as this!”

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¹ tn Or “secretaries” (so NIV, NRSV, NLT).

² tn Or “princes” (so NLT); CEV “highest officials.”

³ tn Heb “from all the Jews”; KJV “more than all the Jews”; NIV “you alone of all the Jews.”

⁴ tn Heb “stand”; KJV, NASB, NIV, NLT “arise.”

⁵ tn Heb “place” (so KJV, NIV, NLT); NRSV “from another quarter.” This is probably an oblique reference to help coming from God. D. J. A. Clines disagrees; in his view a contrast between deliverance by Esther and deliverance by God is inappropriate (Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther [NCBC], 302). But Clines’ suggestion that perhaps the reference is to deliverance by Jewish officials or by armed Jewish revolt is less attractive than seeing this veiled reference as part of the literary strategy of the book, which deliberately keeps God’s providential dealings entirely in the background.

⁶ tn Heb “And who knows whether” (so NASB). The question is one of hope, but free of presumption. Cf. Jonah 3:9.

⁷ tn Heb “have come to the kingdom”; NRSV “to royal dignity”; NIV “to royal position”; NLT “have been elevated to the palace.”