On the king’s servants see 1.3.

On the king’s gate see 2.19.

Bowed down and did obeisance: the author in his typical fashion uses two verbs to express essentially the same idea, that of paying homage. The first is more specifically the gesture of bowing or kneeling; the second more generally means venerating or worshiping. Both verbs can be used to describe showing reverence to gods or idols, but here they are used for honoring a human being. Today’s English Version and Bible en français courant retain the repetition of two verbs with regard to the servants but restate the idea with regard to Mordecai. The text makes the contrast very clear, namely, that Mordecai did not kneel or pay homage. Some common language translations add the words “to show their respect” (Today’s English Version and Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje); and such an addition may be helpful in other languages if the verbs do not indicate the reason for bowing down.

For the king had so commanded: Today’s English Version restructures the verse to make the actions consistent with the order in which they occur. First the king’s command is mentioned, then the obedience of all his officials, and lastly Mordecai’s disobedience. This may help to make the story easier to understand, but it also blurs one of the features of the author’s style, which is to present events in interlocking fashion. That is, the author frequently recalls an earlier event as the story moves forward. For example, in this verse the reader learns that everyone honored Haman because the king had so commanded concerning him, and then the plot moves forward as the new information is given that Mordecai did not do so.

Septuagint 3.2

So: verse 2 begins in Greek with the conjunction kai. Often this conjunction is translated by the word “and.” Sometimes, however, as in this verse, it introduces a result that comes from what precedes (verse 1).

The Greek says literally “all the [ones who were] at court” (New Revised Standard Version, Revised English Bible). As Today’s English Version makes clear, this refers to “all the officials in his [the king’s] service.” The Greek imperfect tense indicates that they regularly did obeisance to Haman, that is, they bowed down to him as one bows down to worship a god. Here, as in the translation of the Hebrew text, some common language translations add the words “to show their respect” (Today’s English Version) or “as a sign of obedience” (Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente).

Did not do obeisance: literally “did not do obeisance to him.”

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 .