Esther 2:19-21

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Esther 2:19 tc The LXX does not include the words “Now when the young women were being gathered again.” The Hebrew word שֵׁנִית (shenit, “a second time”) is difficult in v. 19, but apparently it refers to a subsequent regathering of the women to the harem.
2. Esther 2:19 sn That Mordecai was sitting at the king’s gate apparently means that he was a high-ranking government official. It was at the city gate where important business was transacted. Being in this position afforded Mordecai an opportunity to become aware of the plot against the king’s life, although the author does not include the particular details of how this information first came to Mordecai’s attention.
3. Esther 2:20 sn That Esther was able so effectively to conceal her Jewish heritage suggests that she was not consistently observing Jewish dietary and religious requirements. As C. A. Moore observes, “In order for Esther to have concealed her ethnic and religious identity…in the harem, she must have eaten…, dressed, and lived like a Persian rather than an observant Jewess” (Esther [AB], 28.) In this regard her public behavior stands in contrast to that of Daniel, for example.
4. Esther 2:20 tc The LXX adds the words “to fear God.”
5. Esther 2:21 tn This individual is referred to as “Bigthana,” a variant spelling of the name, in Esth 6:2.
6. Esther 2:21 tc The LXX does not include the names “Bigthan and Teresh” here.
7. Esther 2:21 tn Heb “guarders of the threshold”; NIV “who guarded the doorway.”
8. Esther 2:21 tn Heb “sought to send a hand against”; CEV “decided to kill.”