Ester 1:10

Queen Vashti is Removed from Her Royal Position

1:10 On the seventh day, as King Ahasuerus was feeling the effects of the wine, ¹  he ordered Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar, and Carcas, the seven eunuchs who attended him, ² 

Mazmur 135:15-18

135:15 The nations’ idols are made of silver and gold,

they are man-made. ³ 

135:16 They have mouths, but cannot speak,

eyes, but cannot see,

135:17 and ears, but cannot hear.

Indeed, they cannot breathe. ⁴ 

135:18 Those who make them will end up ⁵  like them,

as will everyone who trusts in them.

Habakuk 2:19

2:19 The one who says to wood, ‘Wake up!’ is as good as dead ⁶  –

he who says ⁷  to speechless stone, ‘Awake!’

Can it give reliable guidance? ⁸ 

It is overlaid with gold and silver;

it has no life’s breath inside it.

Habakuk 1:1

Habakkuk Complains to the Lord

1:1 The following is the message ⁹  which God revealed to Habakkuk the prophet: ¹⁰ 

[1:10]  ¹ tn Heb “as the heart of the king was good with the wine.” Here the proper name (King Ahasuerus) has been substituted for the title in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[1:10]  ² tn Heb “King Ahasuerus”; here the proper name has been replaced by the pronoun “him” in the translation for stylistic reasons. Cf. similarly NIV, NCV, CEV, NLT “King Xerxes.”

[135:15]  ³ tn Heb “the work of the hands of man.”

[135:17]  ⁴ tn Heb “indeed, there is not breath in their mouth.” For the collocation אַף אֵין (’af ’en, “indeed, there is not”) see Isa 41:26. Another option is to take אַף as “nose” (see Ps 115:6), in which case one might translate, “a nose, [but] they have no breath in their mouths.”

[135:18]  ⁵ tn Heb “will be.” Another option is to take the prefixed verbal form as a prayer, “may those who make them end up like them.”

[135:18]  sn Because the idols are lifeless, they cannot help their worshipers in times of crisis. Consequently the worshipers end up as dead as the gods in which they trust.

[2:19]  ⁶ tn Heb “Woe [to] the one who says.” On the term הוֹי (hoy) see the note on the word “dead” in v. 6.

[2:19]  ⁷ tn The words “he who says” in the translation are supplied from the previous parallel line.

[2:19]  ⁸ tn Though the Hebrew text has no formal interrogative marker here, the context indicates that the statement should be taken as a rhetorical question anticipating the answer, “Of course not!” (so also NIV, NRSV).

[1:1]  ⁹ tn Heb “The burden” (so KJV, ASV). The Hebrew term מַשָּׂא (masa’), usually translated “oracle” (NAB, NEB, NASB, NIV, NRSV) or “utterance” (BDB 672 s.v. III מַשָּׂא), in prophetic literature is a technical term introducing a message from the Lord (see Zech 9:1; 12:1; Mal 1:1). Since it derives from a verb meaning “to carry,” its original nuance was that of a burdensome message, that is, one with ominous content.

[1:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “The message [traditionally, “burden”] which Habakkuk the prophet saw.”