3tc For this number much of the Greek MS tradition reads “fifteen thousand.” The Lucianic Greek recension reads “70,100.”
4tnHeb “he”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
5tnHeb “his”; the referent (Haman) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
6tc The LXX and the Syriac Peshitta omit the word “second.”
7tc The present translation is based on the Niphal form וַיּשָּׁלַח (vayyishalakh, “were sent”; so also NRSV, TEV, CEV, NLT) rather than the reading of the MT וַיּשְׁלַח (vayyishlakh, Qal, “and he sent”). The subject of the MT verb would have to be Mordecai (cf. NAB, NIV, NCV), but this is problematic in light of v. 29, where both Esther and Mordecai are responsible for the letters.
8tnHeb “peace and truth.” The expression is probably a hendiadys (see the note on 5:10 for an explanation of this figure).
9tnHeb “written in the book” (so NASB); NIV, NLT “written down in the records”; NRSV “recorded in writing.”