Esther 3:8

3:8 Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a particular people 1  that is dispersed and spread among the inhabitants 2  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. 3 

Esther 4:14

4:14 “Don’t imagine that because you are part of the king’s household you will be the one Jew 4  who will escape. If you keep quiet at this time, liberation and protection for the Jews will appear 5  from another source, 6  while you and your father’s household perish. It may very well be 7  that you have achieved royal status 8  for such a time as this!”

1 tn Heb “one people.” Note the subtle absence at this point of a specific mention of the Jewish people by name.

2 tn Heb “peoples” (so NASB, NIV); NAB “nations”

3 tn Heb “to cause them to rest”; NASB “to let them remain”; NAB, NIV, NRSV “to tolerate them.”

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

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

6 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.

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

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