A fifth word is found in this verse relating to commands, pithgam, translated decree in some versions (Revised Standard Version, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible), “proclamation” in others (Good News Translation), and “edict” in still others (New International Version). The important components in this word are that the command is in written form and it is made known as a public pronouncement or proclamation. The verb is proclaimed is literally “will be heard.” In this context a possible model for translating this part of the verse is the following: “When all the people throughout all the land of the king hear the decree that he has made….” Many languages have a special verb for making an official proclamation that can be used in translating this verse. For instance, a decree may be “announced” or “declaimed,” or it may be “cried out.”
In the words vast as it is, the word “it” can refer to the decree, as in Segond (“When people become informed of this decree that is so important”), but nearly all interpreters understand “it” to refer to the size of the kingdom, as in Good News Translation; Revised English Bible has “throughout the length and breadth of the kingdom.”
For women to give honor to their husbands means in this context “to treat her husband with proper respect” (Good News Translation; also New Jerusalem Bible). In this narrative, though, to treat one’s husband with proper respect means more precisely to “bow to the authority of their husbands” (New Jerusalem Bible) or “to show herself to be submissive to her husband” (Bible en français courant). It is the opposite of showing contempt to one’s husband, referred to in verses 17 and 19 above. The translator may need to choose either “honor” or “obey,” depending on which is the more appropriate in the context.
The words high and low, like “great and small” in 1.5, refer primarily to social rank or position and not to age (Biblia Dios Habla Hoy “whatever their social position might be”). The Hebrew words “great” and “small” refer to the husbands (so Good News Translation, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, Bible en français courant, and most translations). A few translations (Revised English Bible, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch) connect these words to the wives of the common people (1.17), that is, the low, and of the nobles (1.18), that is, the high: “all women, high and low alike, will give honour to their husbands.” Revised English Bible and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch are not the best models here.
Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Noss, Philip A. A Handbook on Esther (The Hebrew Text). (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .