In Susa the capital refers not to the city of Susa but to the citadel (so New Jerusalem Bible, “In the fortress Shushan”; Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, New American Bible; see comment on 9.11). This verse tells that five hundred men, or “people,” were killed in the fortress of Susa on the thirteenth of Adar; and verse 15 indicates that on the fourteenth of Adar three hundred more men were killed in the unfortified lower city of Susa. In Hebrew the words “and in Susa the citadel” are in an emphatic position at the beginning of the verse. Both Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation show this emphasis with the addition of the word “itself,” that is, “in Susa the capital itself.” This emphasis anticipates the king’s question below (see comments on verse 12) and should be conveyed in translation in a way that is appropriate to the receptor language.

In keeping with the author’s stylistic use of repetition and pairs of near synonyms, this verse repeats two of the same words used in the preceding verse. There the noun forms were used. Here they occur as verbs, and Revised Standard Version faithfully translates slew and destroyed.

The Hebrew says literally that five hundred men were killed. Since the Old Testament sometimes uses “men” to include both men and women (see Exo 16.16; Deut 24.16), possibly both are meant here. “Five hundred people” as in Good News Translation and New Revised Standard Version is less specific than the Hebrew but may be correct, though nearly all translations say “five hundred men,” including Revised English Bible (see also verse 12 below).

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 .