Mordecai’s response to Esther is given in the form of a direct quotation. It may be understood as a simple statement of fact, or as a threat or reproach.

Following the use of the plural verb “they told” in the previous verse, Revised Standard Version says in verse 13 Mordecai told them, though the Hebrew does not actually have a pronoun here. The Hebrew is literally “and he said to send back to Esther.”

Think not is literally “Think not in your nefesh,” that is, “in yourself” (compare King James Version “with thyself”). In some languages an equivalent expression such as “within yourself” or “in your heart [or, liver]” may be appropriate.

In the king’s palace: just because Esther is married to the king, she should not consider that fact sufficient to protect her. Revised Standard Version uses a comparative construction any more than, while Today’s English Version uses “safer,” but such comparatives may not be acceptable in some languages. It may be easier to say something like “Do not think in yourself that you [being] in the house of the king will escape [alone] of all the Jews” (compare New Jerusalem Bible, “Do not imagine that you, of all the Jews, will escape with your life by being in the king’s palace”). This is indeed similar to the Hebrew text. The escape referred to is from the destruction Haman had planned for the Jews.

Septuagint 4.13

This verse in Greek contains a direct quotation within a quotation. The Greek says literally: And Mordecai said to Hachratheus, “Go and say to her, ‘Esther, do not say to yourself…’ ” (so Traduction œcuménique de la Bible). Some languages will prefer to express the second quotation as indirect quotation, “Go and tell Esther that she should not say to herself that she is….”

You … will escape alive: the Greek verb here is literally “you will be saved,” that is, “that you will not die.” Unlike the Hebrew, the Greek does not state explicitly Esther’s reason for thinking that she may be safe. The Greek says literally “that you alone will be saved in the kingdom among all the Jews.”

To say to yourself may need to be restated in idiomatic form, “Do not think in your heart [or, liver].”

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Noss, Philip A. A Handbook on the Book of Esther — Deuterocanon: The Greek Text. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .