[Today’s English Version E.10; Revised Standard Version 16.10]
The king has spoken in a general way; now he will give a specific example. The Greek begins the new sentence: “For thus Haman….” Today’s English Version sets off this new information with a new paragraph and with an imperative verb, “Consider, for example, the case of Haman.” Today’s English Version‘s command draws the attention of the reader to what will follow. Other languages will use their own discourse markers to indicate the new development in the king’s letter, “And thus it was that Haman” (compare Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, La Sainte Bible: La version Etablie par les moines de Maredsous), or “It was in this way that Haman….”
Haman is called a Macedonian in the Greek, unlike the Hebrew (see comments on “Macedonian” in LXX 9.24 and 12.6 [A.17]). The note in New American Bible says that the term “Macedonian” is used here and in verse 14 “to express, after Macedonia’s conquest of Persia, the most odious [contemptible] kind of man that a Persian ruler could be supposed to think of.” See comments on verse 14. A Macedonian may be translated as “he comes from Macedonia” (Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente) or “a son of Macedonia.”
An alien to the Persian blood means that Haman is not a Persian; he is “a foreigner” (Today’s English Version). Some receptor languages may restate to say “there is no trace of Persian blood in him” (see New Jerusalem Bible), or even “he is in no way a Persian descendant.” Some languages will say “he is not a son of the land.” Revised Standard Version puts this comment in parentheses as a kind of editorial comment, but most translations only set it off by commas. Today’s English Version restructures and makes a separate explanatory sentence.
Quite devoid of our kindliness … our guest: the king continues to present contrasts. Haman was “much lacking in our goodness,” that is, Haman was not at all characterized by the goodness that the king associated with himself. Perhaps this may be stated as “he is a person that our way of doing good things is not in him even a little.” Nevertheless “he was received hospitably by us.” Today’s English Version understands the plural pronouns here to be the plural of majesty (see verse 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 .