Ester 2:10

2:10 Now Esther had not disclosed her people or her lineage, ¹  for Mordecai had instructed her not to do so. ² 

Ester 4:11

4:11 “All the servants of the king and the people of the king’s provinces know that there is only one law applicable ³  to any man or woman who comes uninvited to the king in the inner court – that person will be put to death, unless the king extends to him the gold scepter, permitting him to be spared. ⁴  Now I have not been invited to come to the king for some thirty days!”

Ester 4:14

4:14 “Don’t imagine that because you are part of the king’s household you will be the one Jew ⁵  who will escape. If you keep quiet at this time, liberation and protection for the Jews will appear ⁶  from another source, ⁷  while you and your father’s household perish. It may very well be ⁸  that you have achieved royal status ⁹  for such a time as this!”

Ester 4:17

4:17 So Mordecai set out to do everything that Esther had instructed him.

Ester 6:4

6:4 Then the king said, “Who is that in the courtyard?” Now Haman had come to the outer courtyard of the palace to suggest that the king hang Mordecai on the gallows that he had constructed for him.

Ester 6:6

6:6 So Haman came in, and the king said to him, “What should be done for the man whom the king wishes to honor?” Haman thought to himself, ¹⁰  “Who is it that the king would want to honor more than me?”

Ester 6:13

6:13 Haman then related to his wife Zeresh and to all his friends everything that had happened to him. These wise men, ¹¹  along with his wife Zeresh, said to him, “If indeed this Mordecai before whom you have begun to fall is Jewish, ¹²  you will not prevail against him. No, you will surely fall before him!”

Ester 7:5

7:5 Then King Ahasuerus responded ¹³  to Queen Esther, “Who is this individual? Where is this person to be found who is presumptuous enough ¹⁴  to act in this way?”

Ester 9:2

9:2 The Jews assembled themselves in their cities throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus to strike out against those who were seeking their harm. No one was able to stand before them, for dread of them fell on all the peoples.

Ester 9:17

9:17 All of this happened on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar. They then rested on the fourteenth day and made it a day for banqueting and happiness.

[2:10]  ¹ tn Cf. v. 20, where the same phrase occurs but with the word order reversed.

[2:10]  ² tn Heb “that she not tell” (NRSV similar); NASB “that she should not make them known.”

[4:11]  ³ tn Heb “one is his law”; NASB “he (the king NIV) has but one law”

[4:11]  ⁴ tn Heb “and he will live”; KJV, ASV “that he may live”; NIV “and spare his life.”

[4:14]  ⁵ tn Heb “from all the Jews”; KJV “more than all the Jews”; NIV “you alone of all the Jews.”

[4:14]  ⁶ tn Heb “stand”; KJV, NASB, NIV, NLT “arise.”

[4:14]  ⁷ 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.

[4:14]  ⁸ tn Heb “And who knows whether” (so NASB). The question is one of hope, but free of presumption. Cf. Jonah 3:9.

[4:14]  ⁹ tn Heb “have come to the kingdom”; NRSV “to royal dignity”; NIV “to royal position”; NLT “have been elevated to the palace.”

[6:6]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “said in his heart” (so ASV); NASB, NRSV “said to himself.”

[6:13]  ¹¹ tc Part of the Greek tradition and the Syriac Peshitta understand this word as “friends,” probably reading the Hebrew term רֲכָמָיו (rakhamayv, “his friends”) rather than the reading of the MT חֲכָמָיו (hakhamayv, “his wise men”). Cf. NLT “all his friends”; the two readings appear to be conflated by TEV as “those wise friends of his.”

[6:13]  ¹² tn Heb “from the seed of the Jews”; KJV, ASV similar.

[7:5]  ¹³ tc The second occurrence of the Hebrew verb וַיּאמֶר (vayyo’mer, “and he said”) in the MT should probably be disregarded. The repetition is unnecessary in the context and may be the result of dittography in the MT.

[7:5]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “has so filled his heart”; NAB “who has dared to do this.”