Footnotes

1. Esther 1:10 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.
2. Esther 1:10 tn Heb “King Ahasuerus”; here the proper name has been replaced by the pronoun “him” in the translation for stylistic reasons.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.”
3. Esther 1:11 tn Heb “was good of appearance”; KJV “was fair to look on”; NAB “was lovely to behold.”
4. Esther 1:12 sn Refusal to obey the king was risky even for a queen in the ancient world. It is not clear why Vashti behaved so rashly and put herself in such danger. Apparently she anticipated humiliation of some kind and was unwilling to subject herself to it, in spite of the obvious dangers. There is no justification in the biblical text for an ancient Jewish targumic tradition that the king told her to appear before his guests dressed in nothing but her royal high turban, that is, essentially naked.
5. Esther 1:12 tn Heb “at the word of the king”; NASB “at the king’s command.”
6. Esther 1:12 tn Heb “burned in him” (so KJV).
7. Esther 1:13 tn Heb “judgment” (so KJV); NASB, NIV “justice”; NRSV “custom.”
8. Esther 1:14 tn Heb “seers of the face of the king”; NASB “who had access to the king’s presence.”
9. Esther 1:14 tn Heb “were sitting first”; NAB “held first rank in the realm.”
10. Esther 1:15 tn These words are not present in the Hebrew text, but have been supplied in the translation for clarity (cf. NIV, NCV, CEV, NLT, all of which supply similar phrases).
11. Esther 1:15 tc The location of the prepositional phrase “according to law” is somewhat unusual in the Hebrew text, but not so much so as to require emendation. Some scholars suggest deleting the phrase as an instance of dittography from the final part of the immediately preceding word in v. 14. Others suggest taking the phrase with the end of v. 14 rather than with v. 15. Both proposals, however, lack adequate justification.
12. Esther 1:19 sn Heb “If upon the king it is good”; KJV “If it please the king.” Deferential language was common in ancient Near Eastern court language addressing a despot; it occurs often in Esther.
13. Esther 1:19 sn Laws…that cannot be repealed. On the permanence of the laws of Media and Persia see also Esth 8:8 and Dan 6:8, 12, 15.
14. Esther 1:19 sn Previously in this chapter the word “queen” accompanies Vashti’s name (cf. vv. 9, 11, 12, 15, 16, 17). But here, in anticipation of her demotion, the title is dropped.
15. Esther 1:19 tn Heb “her neighbor”; NIV “someone else.”
16. Esther 1:19 tn Heb “who is better than she.” The reference is apparently to worthiness of the royal position as demonstrated by compliance with the king’s wishes, although the word טוֹב (tov, “good”) can also be used of physical beauty. Cf. NAB, NASB, NLT “more worthy than she.”
17. Esther 1:20 tn Heb “heard”; KJV, NAB, NLT “published”; NIV, NRSV “proclaimed.”
18. Esther 1:20 tc The phrase “vast though it is” is not included in the LXX, although it is retained by almost all English versions.