SIL Translator’s Notes on Esther 2000 – Page 10

SIL Translator’s Notes on Esther 9:25

9:25a

when it came before the king: Literally “when she came before the king.” It is not clear to whom the feminine pronoun “she” refers. There are two possibilities:

(1) The word it to refer back to Haman’s plot, as in the Berean Standard Bible. This is grammatically possible because the Hebrew word translated “plot” is of feminine gender and so the pronoun used in this verse would be correct.

(Berean Standard Bible, New Century Version, God’s Word, Revised English Bible)

(2) The word it, which is feminine in Hebrew, refers to Esther. This seems logical because of what happened earlier in the story, but grammatically it is unlikely since Esther has not been mentioned by name since 9:13. For example, the Good News Translation has:

But Esther went to the king

It is recommended that you follow the Berean Standard Bible (interpretation 1).

9:25b

should come back upon his own head: That is, that he should suffer the very same fate that he had planned for the Jews.

9:25c

hanged on the gallows: This refers back to two different events, those recorded in 7:9–10 and 9:13–14.

© 2000 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.

SIL Translator’s Notes on Esther 2:3

-4

2:3a

commissioners: This was another kind of official.

2:3b

harem: This was the area of the palace where the concubines of the king lived. A concubine is a woman who is a secondary wife, that is, who is not legally

SIL Translator’s Notes on Esther 4:1

Section 4:1–17

Mordecai asked Esther to beg the king to save the Jews

When Mordecai heard about the order to kill the Jews, he dressed in the sort of clothes he would wear to mourn someone who had died and walked around the city weeping loudly. Esther sent him other clothes but he refused to wear them. She then sent a messenger to find out why he was behaving in this way. Mordecai gave the messenger a copy of the decree to show to Esther, and he pleaded with her to go and ask the king not to destroy the Jews. Esther hesitated, but finally agreed, although it was dangerous for her to approach the king in this way and she might be killed.

Paragraph 4:1–3

4:1b

tore his clothes: This was one way Jews showed that something terrible had happened to them.

put on sackcloth: Sackcloth was coarse cloth usually made from goat’s hair and black in color. The Jews dressed in sackcloth to mourn for the dead or at times of great personal or national disaster.

put on…ashes: This was yet another way to show deep grief. A person would usually sprinkle the ashes on his head.

You may need to find some way of informing your readers that all these actions were a sign of being very unhappy about something. The Display shows one way. Another way would be to explain the actions in a footnote.

4:1c

wailing loudly and bitterly: Use the natural expression in your language for expressing great sorrow.

SIL Translator’s Notes on Esther 6:8

6:8a

a royal robe that the king himself has worn: Choose a word for a long outer garment, like a long coat. This was not just a special garment, but one which the king himself had worn.

6:8b

a royal crest placed on its head: This is the same word in Hebrew as was used for the queen’s crown in 1:11a and 2:17c. See note on 1:11a. Here the crown was attached to the horse’s head to show that the horse belonged to the king.

SIL Translator’s Notes on Esther 8:17

8:17a

the king’s edict and decree: See note on 1:20a.

joy and gladness: See note on 8:16.

8:17b

became Jews: That is, they adopted the customs and beliefs of the Jews.

8:17c

the fear of the Jews had fallen upon them: That is, because they were afraid of the Jews and what they might do, now that Mordecai had such a high position in the kingdom.

SIL Translator’s Notes on Esther 1:4

1:4

the magnificent splendor: This refers to the magnificent possessions of the king.

his greatness: This refers to his position as king.

Paragraph 1:5–9

SIL Translator’s Notes on Esther 2:15

Paragraph 2:15–18

In these verses, the story returns to Esther and Mordecai, the main characters in the story. If you have a way in your language to indicate this, you should use it here.

2:15a

Esther was the daughter of Abihail, the uncle from whom Mordecai had adopted her as his own daughter: You will need to study carefully the best way to include this information in your translation and where in the verse you should put it. Look at how different English versions have translated it. Contemporary English Version even omits it completely, because the translators considered that Esther had already been introduced in 2:7.

2:15b

Hegai, the king’s trusted official in charge of the harem: This is also repeated information and you need to decide whether you should repeat it in your translation.

harem: See note on 2:3b.

SIL Translator’s Notes on Esther 4:15

Paragraph 4:15–17

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Source: SIL Translator’s Notes on Esther 2000