Discovery BoxEsther 1:7-8 
Context1:7 Drinks 1 were served in golden containers, all of which differed from one another. Royal wine was available in abundance at the king’s expense. 1:8 There were no restrictions on the drinking, 2 for the king had instructed all of his supervisors 3 that they should do as everyone so desired. 4
Esther 3:3
Context3:3 Then the servants of the king who were at the king’s gate asked Mordecai, “Why are you violating the king’s commandment?”
Esther 6:14
Context6:14 While they were still speaking with him, the king’s eunuchs arrived. They quickly brought Haman to the banquet that Esther had prepared.
Esther 9:14
Context9:14 So the king issued orders for this to be done. A law was passed in Susa, and the ten sons of Haman were hanged.
Esther 9:18
Context9:18 But the Jews who were in Susa assembled on the thirteenth and fourteenth days, and rested on the fifteenth, making it a day for banqueting and happiness.
Esther 9:20
Context9:20 Mordecai wrote these matters down and sent letters to all the Jews who were throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far,
Esther 9:30
Context9:30 Letters were sent 5 to all the Jews in the hundred and twenty-seven provinces of the empire of Ahasuerus – words of true peace 6 –
1 tn Heb “to cause to drink” (Hiphil infinitive construct of שָׁקָה, shaqah). As the etymology of the Hebrew word for “banquet” (מִשְׁתֶּה, mishteh, from שָׁתָה, shatah, “to drink”) hints, drinking was a prominent feature of ancient Near Eastern banquets.
2 tn Heb “the drinking was according to law; there was no one compelling.”
3 tn Heb “every chief of his house”; KJV “all the officers of his house”; NLT “his staff.”
4 tn Heb “according to the desire of man and man.”
5 tc The present translation is based on the Niphal form וַיּשָּׁלַח (vayyishalakh, “were sent”; so also NRSV, TEV, CEV, NLT) rather than the reading of the MT וַיּשְׁלַח (vayyishlakh, Qal, “and he sent”). The subject of the MT verb would have to be Mordecai (cf. NAB, NIV, NCV), but this is problematic in light of v. 29, where both Esther and Mordecai are responsible for the letters.
6 tn Heb “peace and truth.” The expression is probably a hendiadys (see the note on 5:10 for an explanation of this figure).
