translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: EST

label: NET translator note

text: Heb “and the sleep of the king fled.” In place of the rather innocuous comment of the Hebrew text, the LXX reads here, “And the Lord removed the sleep from the king.” The Greek text thus understands the statement in a more overtly theological way than does the Hebrew text, although even in the Hebrew text there may be a hint of God’s providence at work in this matter. After all, this event is crucial to the later reversal of Haman’s plot to destroy the Jewish people, and a sympathetic reader is likely to look beyond the apparent coincidence.


text: Heb “the book of the remembrances of the accounts of the days”; NAB “the chronicle of notable events.”


text: Heb “they”; the referent (the records) has been specified in the translation for clarity.


text: This individual is referred to as “Bigthan,” a variant spelling of the name, in Esth 2:21 .


text: Heb “to send a hand against”; NASB “had sought to lay hands on.”


text: Heb “honor and greatness.” The expression is a hendiadys (see the note on 5:10 for an explanation of this figure).


text: Heb “said in his heart” (so ASV); NASB, NRSV “said to himself.”


label: NET textual note

text: The final comment (“one on whose head the royal crown has been”) is not included in the LXX. tn Heb “a royal crown on his head.” The reference is to an official decoration or headdress for horses in royal service. See HALOT 506 s.v. כֶּתֶר ; DCH 4:477 s.v. כֶּתֶר . Cf. TEV “a royal ornament”; CEV “a fancy headdress.”


text: The present translation reads with the LXX וְהִלְבִּישׁוֹ ( vÿhilbisho , “and he will clothe him”) rather than the reading of the MT וְהִלְבִּישׁוּ ( vÿhilbishu , “and they will clothe”). The reading of the LXX is also followed by NAB, NRSV, TEV, CEV, and NLT. Likewise, the later verbs in this verse (“cause him to ride” and “call”) are better taken as singulars rather than plurals.


text: Heb “and let them call” (see the previous note).


text: Heb “do not let fall”; NASB “do not fall short.”


text: Part of the Greek tradition and the Syriac Peshitta understand this word as “friends,” probably reading the Hebrew term רֲכָמָיו ( rakhamayv , “his friends”) rather than the reading of the MT חֲכָמָיו ( hakhamayv , “his wise men”). Cf. NLT “all his friends”; the two readings appear to be conflated by TEV as “those wise friends of his.”


text: Heb “from the seed of the Jews”; KJV, ASV similar.