The words When the virgins were gathered together the second time have greatly perplexed interpreters. Why would the virgins be gathered again, once Esther had been chosen as queen? Following the Septuagint, these words are omitted by Today’s English Version, New English Bible, and Revised English Bible. As in 1.22, HOTTP rejects the reading of the Septuagint as a scribe’s attempt to make better sense of a difficult Hebrew text.

In order to solve the difficulty, New Revised Standard Version and Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente place the words “a second time” into a note, while keeping the words “When the virgins were being gathered together” in the text, but no manuscript support exists for such a decision. The note in Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente states “The Hebrew text adds for the second time; we do not know to what this expression refers.”

New Jerusalem Bible and Nueva Biblia Española amend the Hebrew text by omitting the words “Mordecai was sitting at the king’s gate,” considering these words to have been mistakenly repeated from verse 21. New Jerusalem Bible and Nueva Biblia Española also change the Hebrew text to read “When Esther, like the other girls, had been transferred to the second harem, she did not divulge her parentage or race.” Rather than referring to a second gathering, New Jerusalem Bible and Nueva Biblia Española understand “second” to refer to the second harem mentioned in 2.14.

Some interpreters alter the Hebrew word meaning “a second time” to a word meaning “various” by changing one letter, that is, “When various virgins were being gathered together” (so Anchor Bible), and consider verses 19 and 20 to be a repetition of 2.8-10. However, no clear reason for such a repetition can be shown, and such a change in the Hebrew text has no manuscript support.

Other interpreters translate the Hebrew word “a second time” as “secondly” (see 2 Sam 16.19) and understand the verse to be telling a second event that happened while the virgins were being gathered in 2.8-10. By omitting the words “a second time,” New Revised Standard Version and Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente seem to follow this understanding. According to this interpretation, verses 19-22 describe an event that happened at the same time as the gathering of the virgins rather than afterwards. This seems to be the basis for the New American Bible translation of verses 19-21: “From the time the virgins had been brought together, and while Mordecai was passing his time at the king’s gate … And during the time that Mordecai spent at the king’s gate.” In the Septuagint the content of 2.19-23 has already been given in the first Addition to the Hebrew text. New American Bible therefore also begins verse 19 with the words “To resume.”

In conclusion, the Hebrew text should probably be translated as it is. HOTTP gives a “B” evaluation to the Hebrew text and recommends the following translation: “and when the virgins were gathered a second time” (compare Revised Standard Version, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, Bible en français courant). The writer does not say why the virgins were gathered a second time, only that they were.

Mordecai was sitting at the king’s gate may mean nothing more than that he was in a location where he could keep a watchful eye on Esther (see 2.11). Some versions maintain a rather literal translation, giving it this meaning: “Mordecai was passing his time at the king’s gate” (New American Bible); “Mordecai sat in the palace gate” (New Jerusalem Bible); see also Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, New International Version. Other translators understand the words sitting at the king’s gate to be a technical way of saying that Mordecai held an important position in the civil service of the empire, and translate the verse with this sense, since the palace gate, like city gates in the ancient Near East, may have been a place where justice was administered.

This latter interpretation, which is reflected in Today’s English Version (“had been appointed by the king to an administrative position”), is widely accepted. Similar translations are “Mordecai was attached to the Chancellery” (New Jerusalem Bible); “Mordecai was an official at the royal court” (Nueva Biblia Española); and “Mordecai was in attendance in the court” (Revised English Bible).

For those cultures that had a traditional royal court, a translation following the Hebrew may be clearly understood to mean that Mordecai was an official at the court. Where a rendering of the Hebrew will be misleading or wrongly understood, it should be made explicit that Mordecai held an official appointment.

Septuagint 2.19

As already noted above, the Septuagint omits the first part of this verse as it is in Hebrew. Today’s English Version interprets and expands the verse in light of information in verse 21 below.

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 .