Verse 8 picks up the narrative from verse 4 after the interruption of verses 5-7 that introduced Esther and Mordecai. It begins with the Hebrew expression wayyehi (see comments 1.1) that is rendered in Revised Standard Version as So. Moffatt says “Later on.” This Hebrew word signals the important development of Esther’s being brought into the story. Translators will need to indicate this development in the story by using an appropriate conjunction, transition word or expression, or other discourse markers to pick up the story again. In some languages it will be an expression that indicates a new paragraph, “and then it happened” or “so it was that,” or some languages may have special ways of mentioning the main characters again, perhaps for drawing attention to Esther, for example.
The king’s order and his edict: these are literally “word” (see 1.12, “command”) and “law” (1.8), but Revised Standard Version translates according to context, and Today’s English Version restructures the phrase to make the meaning clear without apparent wordiness.
Were proclaimed: literally “when to be heard.” The Hebrew does not state who heard, but the meaning is no doubt that the people in the provinces heard, especially the officers whom the king had appointed (see 2.3).
Many maidens: see comments on verse 2. No specific number of maidens is given, but judging from contemporary historical writings that mention the size of kings’ harems, readers may have understood the number to be several hundred.
Were gathered: literally “when to be gathered.” The Hebrew verb is sometimes intransitive, that is, people simply gather together. Other times it is transitive, that is, someone gathers people together. In light of verse 3, the verb in this context should be understood to be transitive, as in Today’s English Version “were being brought” or “were brought” (New Jerusalem Bible). This may be restated in the active voice with an indefinite pronoun as subject, “they gathered many maidens,” or with a noun, “his officials gathered many maidens.”
On Susa the capital see 1.2.
On Hegai and who had charge of the women, see 2.3.
The king’s palace: this is literally “the house of the king.” (see 1.9, where the word “house” is also used of the king’s palace).
Septuagint 2.8
Where the Hebrew uses a variety of terms to refer to law, decree, or command, the Greek uses mainly one word, nomos (see comments on LXX 1.8, 13). However, for decree in this verse a second term is found, prostagma, “command, ordinance, order.” Today’s English Version restructures the verse and expands slightly, harmonizing with the Hebrew version to make the meaning more clear.
In custody of Gai: the Greek idiom “under the hand of” is the same as the Hebrew idiom, which occurs twice in the Hebrew version of this verse and was seen earlier (see 2.3 above).
Gai: called Hegai in Hebrew. This is the first mention of this eunuch’s name in the Greek text, since his name is not given in verse 3 in Greek. He is identified here as “the guardian of the women” (so Traduction œcuménique de la Bible), which Revised Standard Version renders as who had custody of the women.
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 .