He also gave him a copy of what had been posted in Susa for their destruction, to show to Esther, and he told him to charge her to go in to the king and plead for his favor in behalf of the people. “Remember,” he said, “the days when you were an ordinary person, being brought up under my care, for Haman, who is second to the king, has spoken against us and demands our death. Call upon the Lord; then speak to the king in our behalf and save us from death.”
The Hebrew and Greek that is translated as “remember” in English is translated in Mairasi as “it is (or: place it) in your liver’s crack” (source: Enggavoter 2004) and in Noongar as barrang-dwangka, literally “ear-hold” (source: Portions of the Holy Bible in the Nyunga language of Australia, 2018).
The name that is transliterated as “Haman” in English means “alone,” “solitary,” “well disposed,” “a rioter,” “rager.” (Source: Cornwall / Smith 1997 )
The name that is transliterated as “Esther” in English is translated in Spanish Sign Language with a sign depicting a star on a crown, referring to her being a queen and her name likely meaning “star” (see here ). (Source: Steve Parkhurst)
Some languages do not have a concept of kingship and therefore no immediate equivalent for the Greek, Hebrew, Ge’ez, Aramaic, and Latin that is translated as “king” in English. Here are some (back-) translations:
Ninia Yali: “big brother with the uplifted name” (source: Daud Soesilio in Noss 2007, p. 175)
Nyamwezi: mutemi: generic word for ruler, by specifying the city or nation it becomes clear what kind of ruler (source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)
Ghomála’: Fo (“The word Fo refers to the paramount ruler in the kingdoms of West Cameroon. He holds administrative, political, and religious power over his own people, who are divided into two categories: princes (descendants of royalty) and servants (everyone else).” (Source: Michel Kenmogne in Theologizing in Context: An Example from the Study of a Ghomala’ Christian Hymn))
Faye Edgerton retells how the term in Navajo (Dinė) was determined:
“[This term was] easily expressed in the language of Biblical culture, which had kings and noblemen with their brilliant trappings and their position of honor and praise. But leadership among the Navajos is not accompanied by any such titles or distinctions of dress. Those most respected, especially in earlier days, were their headmen, who were the leaders in raids, and the shaman, who was able to serve the people by appealing for them to the gods, or by exorcising evil spirits. Neither of these made any outward show. Neither held his position by political intrigue or heredity. If the headman failed consistently in raids, he was superceded by a better warrior. If the shaman failed many times in his healing ceremonies, it was considered that he was making mistakes in the chants, or had lost favor with the gods, and another was sought. The term Navajos use for headman is derived from a verb meaning ‘to move the head from side to side as in making an oration.’ The headman must be a good orator, able to move the people to go to war, or to follow him in any important decision. This word is naat’áanii which now means ‘one who rules or bosses.’ It is employed now for a foreman or boss of any kind of labor, as well as for the chairman of the tribal council. So in order to show that the king is not just a common boss but the highest ruler, the word ‘aláahgo, which expresses the superlative degree, was put before naat’áanii, and so ‘aláahgo naat’áanii ‘anyone-more-than-being around-he-moves-his-head-the-one-who’ means ‘the highest ruler.’ Naat’áanii was used for governor as the context usually shows that the person was a ruler of a country or associated with kings.”
The Hebrew adonai in the Old Testament typically refers to God. The shorter adon (and in two cases in the book of Daniel the Aramaic mare [מָרֵא]) is also used to refer to God but more often for concepts like “master,” “owner,” etc. In English Bible translations all of those are translated with “Lord” if they refer to God.
In English Old Testament translations, as in Old Testament translations in many other languages, the use of Lord (or an equivalent term in other languages) is not to be confused with Lord (or the equivalent term with a different typographical display for other languages). While the former translates adonai, adon and mare, the latter is a translation for the tetragrammaton (YHWH) or the Name of God. See tetragrammaton (YHWH) and the article by Andy Warren-Rothlin in Noss / Houser, p. 618ff. for more information.
In the New Testament, the Greek term kurios has at least four different kinds of use:
referring to “God,” especially in Old Testament quotations,
meaning “master” or “owner,” especially in parables, etc.,
as a form of address (see for instance John 4:11: “Sir, you have no bucket”),
or, most often, referring to Jesus
In the first and fourth case, it is also translated as “Lord” in English.
Most languages naturally don’t have one word that covers all these meanings. According to Bratcher / Nida, “the alternatives are usually (1) a term which is an honorific title of respect for a high-ranking person and (2) a word meaning ‘boss’, ‘master’, or ‘chief.’ (…) and on the whole it has generally seemed better to employ a word of the second category, in order to emphasize the immediate personal relationship, and then by context to build into the word the prestigeful character, since its very association with Jesus Christ will tend to accomplish this purpose.”
When looking at the following list of back-translations of the terms that translators in the different languages have used for both kurios and adonai to refer to God and Jesus respectively, it might be helpful for English readers to recall the etymology of the English “Lord.” While this term might have gained an exalted meaning in the understanding of many, it actually comes from hlaford or “loaf-ward,” referring to the lord of the castle who was the keeper of the bread (source: Rosin 1956, p. 121).
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Following are some of the solutions that don’t rely on a different typographical display (see above):
Iyansi: Mwol. Mwol is traditionally used for the “chief of a group of communities and villages” with legal, temporal, and spiritual authority (versus the “mfum [the term used in other Bantu languages] which is used for the chief of one community of people in one village”). Mwol is also used for twins who are “treated as special children, highly honored, and taken care of like kings and queens.” (Source: Kividi Kikama in Greed / Kruger, p. 396ff.)
Binumarien: Karaambaia: “fight-leader” (Source: Oates 1995, p. 255)
Warlpiri: Warlaljamarri (owner or possessor of something — for more information tap or click here)
We have come to rely on another term which emphasizes God’s essential nature as YHWH, namely jukurrarnu (see tetragrammaton (YHWH)). This word is built on the same root jukurr– as is jukurrpa, ‘dreaming.’ Its basic meaning is ‘timelessness’ and it is used to describe physical features of the land which are viewed as always being there. Some speakers view jukurrarnu in terms of ‘history.’ In all Genesis references to YHWH we have used Kaatu Jukurrarnu. In all Mark passages where kurios refers to God and not specifically to Christ we have also used Kaatu Jukurrarnu.
New Testament references to Christ as kurios are handled differently. At one stage we experimented with the term Watirirririrri which refers to a ceremonial boss of highest rank who has the authority to instigate ceremonies. While adequately conveying the sense of Christ’s authority, there remained potential negative connotations relating to Warlpiri ceremonial life of which we might be unaware.
Here it is that the Holy Spirit led us to make a chance discovery. Transcribing the personal testimony of the local Warlpiri pastor, I noticed that he described how ‘my Warlaljamarri called and embraced me (to the faith)’. Warlaljamarri is based on the root warlalja which means variously ‘family, possessions, belongingness’. A warlaljamarri is the ‘owner’ or ‘possessor’ of something. While previously being aware of the ‘ownership’ aspect of warlaljamarri, this was the first time I had heard it applied spontaneously and naturally in a fashion which did justice to the entire concept of ‘Lordship’. Thus references to Christ as kurios are now being handled by Warlaljamarri.” (Source: Stephen Swartz, The Bible Translator 1985, p. 415ff. )
Mairasi: Onggoao Nem (“Throated One” — “Leader,” “Elder”) or Enggavot Nan (“Above-One”) (source: Enggavoter 2004)
Obolo: Okaan̄-ene (“Owner of person(s)”) (source: Enene Enene)
Lotha Naga: Opvui (“owner of house / field / cattle”) — since both “Lord” and YHWH are translated as Opvui there is an understanding that “Opvui Jesus is the same as the Opvui of the Old Testament”
Seediq: Tholang, loan word from Min Nan Chinese (the majority language in Taiwan) thâu-lâng (頭儂): “Master” (source: Covell 1998, p. 248)
Thai: phra’ phu pen cao (พระผู้เป็นเจ้า) (divine person who is lord) or ong(kh) cao nay (องค์เจ้านาย) (<divine classifier>-lord-boss) (source: Stephen Pattemore)
Arabic often uses different terms for adonai or kurios referring to God (al-rabb الرب) and kurios referring to Jesus (al-sayyid الـسـيـد). Al-rabb is also the term traditionally used in Arabic Christian-idiom translations for YHWH, and al-sayyid is an honorary term, similar to English “lord” or “sir” (source: Andy Warren-Rothlin).
Tamil also uses different terms for adonai/kurios when referring to God and kurios when referring to Jesus. The former is Karttar கர்த்தர், a Sanskrit-derived term with the original meaning of “creator,” and the latter in Āṇṭavar ஆண்டவர், a Tamil term originally meaning “govern” or “reign” (source: Natarajan Subramani).
Burunge: Looimoo: “owner who owns everything” (in the Burunge Bible translation, this term is only used as a reference to Jesus and was originally used to refer to the traditional highest deity — source: Michael Endl in Holzhausen / Riderer 2010, p. 48)
Yagaria: Souve, originally “war lord” (source: Renck, p. 94)
Aguacateco: Ajcaw ske’j: “the one to whom we belong and who is above us” (source: Rita Peterson in Holzhausen / Riderer 2010, p. 49)
Konkomba: Tidindaan: “He who is the owner of the land and reigns over the people” (source: Lidorio 2007, p. 66)
Chichewa: AmbuyeAmbuye comes from the singular form Mbuye which is used to refer to: (1) someone who is a guardian or protector of someone or group of people — a grandparent who has founded a community or village; (2) someone who is a boss or master over a group of people or servants and has absolute control over them; (3) owner of something, be it a property, animals and people who are bound under his/her rule — for people this was mostly commonly used in the context of slaves and their owner. In short, Mbuye is someone who has some authorities over those who call him/her their “Mbuye.” Now, when the form Ambuye is used it will either be for honorific when used for singular or plural when referring to more than one person. When this term is used in reference to God, it is for respect to God as he is acknowledged as a guardian, protector, and ruler of everything. (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation).
Hdi uses rveri (“lion”) as a title of respect and as such it regularly translates adon in the Old Testament. As an address, it’s most often with a possessive pronoun as in rvera ɗa (“my lion” = “my lord” or “sir”). So, for example, Genesis 15:2 (“O Lord God”) is Rvera ɗa Yawe (“My lion Yahweh”) or Ruth to Boaz in Ruth 2:13: “May I find your grace [lit. good-stomach] my lion.” This ties in nicely with the imagery of the Lord roaring like a lion (Hosea 11:10; Amos 3:8; Joel 3:16). Better still, this makes passages like Revelation 5:5 even richer when we read about rveri ma taba məndəra la Yuda, “the Lion of the tribe of Judah”. In Revelation 19:16, Jesus is rveri ta ghəŋa rveriha “the lion above lions” (“lord of lords”). (Source: Drew Maust)
Law (2013, p. 97) writes about how the Ancient GreekSeptuagint‘s translation of the Hebrew adonai was used by the New Testament writers as a bridge between the Old and New Testaments: “Another case is the use of kurios referring to Jesus. For Yahweh (in English Bibles: ‘the Lord‘), the Septuagint uses kurios. Although the term kurios usually has to do with one’s authority over others, when the New Testament authors use this word from the Septuagint to refer to Jesus, they are making an extraordinary claim: Jesus of Nazareth is to be identified with Yahweh.”
This verse contains so much information that it may be difficult to state it clearly in one sentence (Revised Standard Version) or even in two sentences (Today’s English Version). Translators may need to restructure to make several sentences. The verse recounts both what Mordecai did and what he wanted the messenger to tell Esther to do. Revised Standard Version uses implied speech to indicate the series of deeds that the messenger is to perform, while Today’s English Version introduces a verb of speaking, “Mordecai asked him.”
In addition to the numerous acts contained in this verse, there are a number of actors or participants. There are three men, Mordecai, Hathach and the king, plus Esther and her people. The antecedents of the pronouns “he” and “him” in this verse may possibly confuse some readers. Today’s English Version makes clear that Esther is to make supplication to the king, not to Hathach, and to entreat the king for her people.
A copy: see comments on 3.14.
Issued in Susa: Today’s English Version expands the participle into a relative clause, “that had been issued.” It may be necessary to restate this verb in the active voice, specifying the agent of the action; for example, “that the king had sent out from Susa.”
Their destruction: as Today’s English Version makes explicit, the destruction of the Jews is meant (see the end of the previous verse).
It may be surprising that Mordecai instructs Hathach “to order” the queen to go to the king. Today’s English Version weakens the force of the verb by saying “have her go.” Traduction œcuménique de la Bible maintains the idea of the Hebrew by saying that he is to “command” Esther to go, and translators in other languages should use an equally strong verb in their language. In fact, in many cultures it would be Mordecai’s right to send an order to Esther because of his social relationship to her.
Esther is to make supplication and entreat the king. The first verb means “to seek [someone’s] active favor,” by which that person will act on behalf of the person making the request. New International Version renders this “beg for mercy.” The second verb is literally “to seek,” but this verb has a wide range of meanings, depending on the context. Here the sense is “to plead with [someone]” (so New International Version), and the two verbs function as synonyms.
For her people: the meaning is not that Esther is to plead in place of her people, that is, to do what they cannot do for themselves. Rather, as Today’s English Version makes clear, the meaning is “beg him to have mercy on her people.” It is also possible to say “entreat [or, plead] on behalf of her people.”
Septuagint 4.8
This verse is considerably different in the Greek from the Hebrew. The Greek omits the phrase “and explain it to her,” but it adds the words that Hachratheus is to repeat to Esther. First Mordecai tells Hachratheus to command Esther to go in [to the king], to plead with the king and to beg him on behalf of the laos, that is, her people the Jews (see comment on A.17). This is the summary of the message that Hachratheus is to bring to Esther from Mordecai. Then the author continues in direct quotation with the exact words that the messenger is to repeat to Esther. In the Greek, and in New Revised Standard Version, the words are addressed to Esther in the second person, coming to a conclusion with three dramatic commands. In Today’s English Version this direct speech is signaled by the words “Tell her,” followed by the message itself in indirect quotation.
To go in to the king: the meaning here is that Esther should go in to the king’s presence. Mordecai was commanding Esther to have an audience with the king to make an official plea for her people.
The days when you were an ordinary person: literally “the days of humiliation [or, low condition].” The reference is to the time before Esther became queen. Revised English Bible states this command idiomatically in the negative form: “Do not forget your humble origins.” Regarding Esther’s being brought up under Mordecai’s care, see Septuagint 2.7. Brought up under my care is literally “being fed by my hand.”
Who stands next to the king is literally “who is second to the king” (in the Hebrew of 10.3, Mordecai is said to be “second to the king”). Call upon the Lord means “pray to the Lord” (Today’s English Version). In the Hebrew Hachratheus does not tell Esther to Call upon the Lord.
Lord: The term “God” (theos) has occurred earlier in Septuagint 2.20, but this is the first use of the title “Lord” (kyrios). The translators of the Septuagint used the term kyrios in place of the personal name of God, YHWH, and many modern versions have rendered the Hebrew name as “LORD” in English (so Revised Standard Version, New Revised Standard Version, New International Version, Today’s English Version). In this verse, however, there is no reference to God’s name in the Hebrew version. It should therefore be translated without making an attempt to represent the name YHWH. Some languages will have an equivalent term; others will need to use a descriptive construction, “the Great Master,” “the Master of all,” or “the Possessor over all,” for example.
Against us … our death … our behalf … save us: in languages that distinguish between first person plural inclusive and exclusive pronouns, the translator will need to be careful in the choice of pronouns. In the message from Mordecai, Esther is included in the first person pronoun, but the message-bearer is not. Therefore in Revised Standard Version, where Esther is addressed directly, she is included with Mordecai in us and our, while in Today’s English Version, where Hachratheus is addressed, because he is not a Jew he is not included in the pronoun.
Save us from death: the Greek verb used here is often translated “rescue, deliver” and it often refers to being rescued from something. Here it refers to the Jews being rescued from the death that had been planned for them (see also C.25; F.6). Traduction œcuménique de la Bible and Bible en français courant translate it very dramatically, “Snatch us from death!” or “Pull us away from death!” It may be restated idiomatically, “Rescue us from the hand of death!” or “Deliver us so that they do not kill us!”
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 .
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