On the king’s signet ring see 3.10. To avoid the wrong impression that the signet ring originally belonged to Haman, Good News Translation says “which he had taken back from Haman” (so also New Jerusalem Bible, “who had recovered his signet ring from Haman”). That the king gave Mordecai his signet ring means that Mordecai now has the position of authority that the king had earlier granted to Haman. In the development of the plot of the story, the fact that Mordecai received the king’s ring becomes significant a few verses later (see 8.7-8). Good News Translation encloses the clause about taking back the ring from Haman within parentheses, to indicate that this is considered to be editorial explanation in the text.

It may be necessary to restructure quite extensively in order to make clear the sequence of actions referred to in this verse. The king had first given his ring to Haman, then he took it back from Haman and put it on his own finger, now he takes it off his own finger and gives it to Mordecai. While being careful to omit none of the meaning of the original text, the translator should not make explicit more details than are necessary for good comprehension.

Esther set Mordecai over the house of Haman: see comment in 8.1 on “the house of Haman.” Esther put Mordecai in charge of Haman’s former property, that is, she made him responsible over it.

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 .