Ester 3:5-6

3:5 When Haman saw that Mordecai was not bowing or paying homage to him, he ¹  was filled with rage. 3:6 But the thought of striking out against ²  Mordecai alone was repugnant to him, for he had been informed ³  of the identity of Mordecai’s people. ⁴  So Haman sought to destroy all the Jews (that is, the people of Mordecai) ⁵  who were in all the kingdom of Ahasuerus.

[3:5]  ¹ tn Heb “Haman.” The pronoun (“he”) was used in the translation for stylistic reasons. Repeating the proper name here is redundant according to contemporary English style, although the name is repeated in NASB and NRSV.

[3:6]  ² tn Heb “to send a hand against”; KJV, NRSV “to lay hands on.”

[3:6]  ³ tn Heb “they had related to him.” For stylistic reasons this has been translated as a passive construction.

[3:6]  ⁴ tc The entire first half of the verse is not included in the LXX.

[3:6]  ⁵ tc This parenthetical phrase is not included in the LXX. Some scholars emend the MT reading עַם (’am, “people”) to עִם (’im, “with”), arguing that the phrase is awkwardly placed and syntactically inappropriate. While there is some truth to their complaint, the MT makes sufficient sense to be acceptable here, and is followed by most English versions.