InterlinearVerse GEN EXO LEV NUM DEUT JOB YEHO (JOS) HERO (JDG) RUTH 1 SAM 2 SAM PSA AMOS HOS 1 KI 2 KI 1 CHR 2 CHR PROV ECC SNG YOEL (JOEL) MIC ISA ZEP HAB YIR (JER) LAM YNA (JNA) NAH OBAD DAN EZEK EZRA EST NEH HAG ZEC MAL 2 PS WIS TOB MAN BAR G DAN G ESD L ESD ESG JDT 3 MAC SIR 1 MAC 2 MAC 4 MAC YHN (JHN) MARK MAT LUKE ACTs YAC (JAM) GAL 1 TH 2 TH 1 COR 2 COR ROM COL LAOD PHM EPH PHP 1 TIM TIT 1 PET 2 PET 2 TIM HEB YUD (JUD) 1 YHN (1 JHN) 2 YHN (2 JHN) 3 YHN (3 JHN) REV
InterlinearVerse Est C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8 C9
People tagged in the matching LV passage: Ahasuerus
OET-LV And_he/it_assigned the_king ʼAḩashvērōsh[fn] a_tax on the_earth/land and_the_islands_of the_sea.
10:1 OSHB variant note: אחשרש: (x-qere) ’אֲחַשְׁוֵר֧וֹשׁ’: lemma=325 morph=HNp id=17TQ4 אֲחַשְׁוֵר֧וֹשׁ
OET (OET-RV) Then King Ahashverosh (Ahasuerus/Xerxes) imposed a tax on everyone throughout his empire, including those on the islands of the Mediterranean Sea.
The book began with a reference to the greatness of King Xerxes. It ends with how the king honored Mordecai, one of the heroes of the story.
Now King Xerxes imposed tribute throughout the land, even to its farthest shores.
¶ King Xerxes demanded that the people everywhere in his kingdom even as far as the edge of the sea, should pay taxes to him.
tribute: The Hebrew is more “forced labor.” However the word also came to mean tribute, a sort of tax which the king made the people throughout his kingdom pay. Because of the expenses of the long war against Greece, the king needed money. These taxes would have been paid mainly by food which the people grew or by animals which they reared.
throughout the land, even to its farthest shores: Literally “upon the land and the regions of the sea.” Scholars differ in how they understand this, especially the expression “the regions of the sea.” The two main possibilities are:
“Regions of the sea” means the coast, as distinguished from the interior (BSB, RSV, NIV, GNT, NLT).
“Regions of the sea” means the islands, as distinguished from the mainland (NJPS, GW, CEV, JB).
The expression “regions of the sea” can mean either. The important thing is that the expression “upon the land and the regions of the sea” means that the whole empire was included, and you should make sure that your translation makes this clear.
Note 1 topic: writing-newevent
וַיָּשֶׂם֩ הַמֶּ֨לֶךְ אֲחַשְׁוֵר֧וֹשׁ
(Some words not found in UHB: and=he/it_assigned the=king ʼAḩashvērōsh tribute on/upon/above/on_account_of//he/it_went_in the=earth/land and,the_islands_of the=sea )
This introduces a new event in the story. Use a natural way to introduce a new event in your language.
וַיָּשֶׂם֩ & מַ֛ס
(Some words not found in UHB: and=he/it_assigned the=king ʼAḩashvērōsh tribute on/upon/above/on_account_of//he/it_went_in the=earth/land and,the_islands_of the=sea )
Alternate translation: [Then … levied a tax]
Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / merism
עַל־הָאָ֖רֶץ וְאִיֵּ֥י הַיָּֽם
on/upon/above/on_account_of//he/it_went_in the=earth/land (Some words not found in UHB: and=he/it_assigned the=king ʼAḩashvērōsh tribute on/upon/above/on_account_of//he/it_went_in the=earth/land and,the_islands_of the=sea )
The purpose of this chapter is to describe the greatness of Mordecai. It does that by showing that he was second in command to a very powerful emperor. Referring to both the land and the sea is a way to include everything that lives in a very large area of the earth. If it would be helpful in your language, you could express the general meaning by saying something like “everyone throughout his empire.” Alternate translation: [on all the people in the empire … even the people who lived on the islands in the Mediterranean Sea] or [on everyone throughout the land and even the far-away islands]
Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit
וְאִיֵּ֥י הַיָּֽם
(Some words not found in UHB: and=he/it_assigned the=king ʼAḩashvērōsh tribute on/upon/above/on_account_of//he/it_went_in the=earth/land and,the_islands_of the=sea )
The phrase the islands of the sea likely refers to the fact that the Persian kings had conquered territories reaching all the way to the Mediterranean Sea. If it would be helpful in your language, you could say that explicitly. Alternate translation: [which reached all the way to the Mediterranean Sea.]
Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / metonymy
עַל־הָאָ֖רֶץ וְאִיֵּ֥י הַיָּֽם
on/upon/above/on_account_of//he/it_went_in the=earth/land (Some words not found in UHB: and=he/it_assigned the=king ʼAḩashvērōsh tribute on/upon/above/on_account_of//he/it_went_in the=earth/land and,the_islands_of the=sea )
These geographic features were not expected to pay the tax. The land and coastlands represent the people living there. The story is describing those people by reference to something associated with them, the places where they live.
OET-LV And_he/it_assigned the_king ʼAḩashvērōsh[fn] a_tax on the_earth/land and_the_islands_of the_sea.
10:1 OSHB variant note: אחשרש: (x-qere) ’אֲחַשְׁוֵר֧וֹשׁ’: lemma=325 morph=HNp id=17TQ4 אֲחַשְׁוֵר֧וֹשׁ
OET (OET-RV) Then King Ahashverosh (Ahasuerus/Xerxes) imposed a tax on everyone throughout his empire, including those on the islands of the Mediterranean Sea.
Note: The OET-RV is still only a first draft, and so far only a few words have been (mostly automatically) matched to the Hebrew or Greek words that they’re translated from.
Acknowledgements: The Hebrew text, lemmas, and morphology are all thanks to the OSHB and some of the glosses are from Macula Hebrew.
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