This verse is one of the most dramatic in the entire Book of Esther. In the first part there is a play on words, the two most common legal terms occurring in juxtaposed clauses. These are davar “word” and dat “law,” translated respectively as order and decree in Revised Standard Version. Revised Standard Version says that the decree was issued. The verb in Hebrew is literally “was given,” but in this context a technical term such as “issued,” “publicized,” or “announced” may be more appropriate in some languages.
On couriers see 3.13. These couriers went in haste; literally “they went hurrying.” Perhaps the idea of going quickly is implicit in the Today’s English Version translation “runner,” but most translations keep this explicit: “The couriers went out posthaste” (New Jerusalem Bible).
On Susa the capital see comments on 1.2.
In the second half of the verse, the author uses a very simple style by setting two brief statements together, the one directly following the other. A city thrown into total confusion is depicted in stark contrast to the king and his prime minister, who sit down to drink. Poetic form in the receptor language may offer models of juxtaposition that will reflect the sharp contrast of the original. In some languages it may be more effective not to specify a relationship between the two sentences by introducing a conjunction as Revised Standard Version has done with “but,” and as Today’s English Version has done with “while.”
The king and Haman sat down to drink: perhaps the words to drink should not be understood in the limited sense of drinking but should be understood in the sense of “to feast” as in 7.1 (so New Jerusalem Bible, Nueva Biblia Española, New American Bible). If the verb to drink is kept in translation, some languages must supply an object for the verb. The most natural object is the word “wine” as in 7.2.
The city of Susa was perplexed: the Hebrew word used to describe the city of Susa does not occur often in the Old Testament (see “entangled” in Exo 14.3; “perplexed” in Joel 1.18). It describes a state of bewilderment (New International Version) or consternation (New Jerusalem Bible). The inhabitants of the city of Susa were “dumbfounded” (New Jerusalem Bible) by the decree issued against the Jews (see comments on Greek verse below).
Septuagint 3.15
The Hebrew text of 3.14 states that the decree is supposed to be issued throughout the Persian Empire, but the Hebrew does not state explicitly until verse 15 that this was done. However, the Greek text does state already in verse 14 that the decree was posted throughout the empire. For this reason the Greek of verse 15 omits the words telling that the couriers went quickly.
The drama of this last episode is heightened in the Hebrew version by the juxtaposition, that is, the placing together, of two clauses that are similar in form, without any conjunction linking the two. In Greek, juxtaposition is also used, but the overall syntactic structure is different. By juxtaposing the verbs of the two clauses, the author of the Greek version achieves dramatic impact through chiasmus (subject-verb, verb-subject): “and the king and Haman got drunk, and was thrown into confusion the city.” Translators will need to find equivalent ways of expressing the dramatic qualities of this verse in their own languages. In some languages this can be achieved through special syntax, in others through special words or grammatical constructions.
The Greek states explicitly that Haman and the king “got drunk” (Today’s English Version, Bible en français courant, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible).
Was thrown into confusion: although the Hebrew equivalent of this expression only occurs once in the book, the Greek word occurs prominently several times and is therefore a word that takes on thematic importance (Septuagint 4.4 and Addition A.4, 7, 8). The basic meaning of this verb is “to stir, to stir up, to be troubled [like water],” but it has several extended meanings. It can be used to describe a person’s state of mind, “to be troubled, to be agitated, to be distressed” (see D.16) or even to be frightened (see D.13). It can refer to a political situation that is “in confusion, in a state of anarchy,” or it can describe a situation of “disorder, tumult,” for example an army that is in disarray or a city that is “in an uproar,” as in this verse (see also A.4, 7, 8). The word also occurs as a noun, as an adjective, and as an adverb with the same meanings. When it has a prefix a- it has the opposite meaning, “without confusion,” that is, “calm, peaceful, stable” (see B.7; E.8).
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 .