He had brought up: Since five other names come between Mordecai in verse 5 and the pronoun He at the beginning of this verse, the name Mordecai may be specified, as in New Revised Standard Version (“Mordecai had brought up Hadassah”), to avoid ambiguity in the receptor language. The sense of the participle “supporting,” translated as brought up in Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation, is explained at the end of this verse; Mordecai took her as his own daughter.

Hadassah was Esther’s Hebrew name and Esther was her non-Hebraic name. Good News Translation makes this explicit by saying “whose Hebrew name was Hadassah.” This name is the feminine form of the Hebrew word for “myrtle,” a kind of evergreen tree or shrub that produces scented berries and yields fragrant oil. If translators have a name for “myrtle” in their language, they may want to consider following the example of Traduction œcuménique de la Bible: “Now he was the guardian of Myrtle—that is, Esther—his cousin….” Otherwise it is preferable to keep Hadassah in the text and provide an explanatory footnote.

Esther is a name of uncertain origin. If it is of Babylonian origin, it is a variant of the name Ishtar, the Babylonian goddess of love. But if it is of Persian origin, then it comes from the word for “star.” This information may also be included in a footnote.

Though the Hebrew says that Esther was the daughter of his uncle, the text does not say whether the uncle was the brother of Mordecai’s mother or of his father, a distinction made in some languages. Good News Translation uses a more natural English way of referring to the relationship between Esther and Mordecai: “He had a cousin” (so also Bible en français courant, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Nueva Biblia Española). If it is necessary to specify to which side of the family the uncle belonged, it may be preferable to say the father’s side, because in many societies the mother’s brother holds a special social and religious position that is not evident here.

For she had neither father nor mother: literally “for not to her father or mother.” The second half of this verse makes clear why she had no parents; they had died. A rather literal translation of the Hebrew order as in Revised Standard Version may wrongly suggest to some readers that Mordecai brought Esther up, and then at a later time her parents died. Good News Translation completely restructures the verse and avoids this repetition of thought.

Beautiful and lovely: similarly to Rachel (Gen 29.17), Esther is described with two expressions, the first indicating that she was physically attractive (literally “lovely of form”), the second referring more to her general appearance (literally “good of vision”). Only the latter was used to describe Queen Vashti (1.11) and the young women who were to be gathered for the king (2.3). The Hebrew expressions are nearly synonymous. New International Version says “lovely in form and features.” Perhaps the intended meaning is best expressed as “she had a good figure and a beautiful face” (New Jerusalem Bible).

Adopted her as his own daughter is literally “took her to himself for a daughter.” Although this does not mean legal adoption, many translations use the word adopted. Others say simply “Mordecai had taken her as his own daughter” (New American Bible, New International Version). It may also be said “he had raised her as his very own child.”

Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Noss, Philip A. A Handbook on Esther (The Hebrew Text). (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .