Discovery BoxEsther 1:5 
Context1:5 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 5:1
Context5:1 It so happened that on the third day Esther put on her royal attire and stood in the inner court of the palace, 5 opposite the king’s quarters. 6 The king was sitting on his royal throne in the palace, opposite the entrance. 7
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 “of the house of the king”; NASB, NRSV “of the king’s palace.”
6 tn Heb “the house of the king”; NASB “the king’s rooms”; NIV, NLT “the king’s hall.” This expression is used twice in this verse. In the first instance, it is apparently the larger palace complex that is in view, whereas in the second instance the expression seems to refer specifically to the quarters from which the king governed.
7 tn Heb “the entrance of the house” (so ASV).
