Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Luke Buckler <biblical.languages AT gmail.com>]

Hello,

Over the weekend I went to a Bible study day, and the talks were on Esther.

One of my favorite points from the talk was based on the grammar of
some sentences in Esther, but I'd like to verify what was suggested.

One of the verses mentioned was Est. 2:22. In context (from the ESV) it says: 
-

[21] In those days, as Mordecai was sitting at the king's gate,
Bigthan and Teresh, two of the king's eunuchs, who guarded the
threshold, became angry and sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus.
[22] And this came to the knowledge of Mordecai, and he told it to
Queen Esther, and Esther told the king in the name of Mordecai. [23]
When the affair was investigated and found to be so, the men were both
hanged on the gallows. And it was recorded in the book of the
chronicles in the presence of the king.

The part of the passage picked on was at the of v22, where it says
'And this came to the knowledge of Mordecai ... '.

Here, in English in the ESV (and in other versions like ASV, KJV, YLT,
NASB) the sentence is passive: Mordecai didn't find the information
out himself, but the information was made known to Mordecai (like 'The
ball was kicked to John', which is passive; as opposed to 'Billy
kicked the ball', which isn't).

However, is this the case in the Hebrew (or whatever language Esther
was originally written in)? Is the sentence a passive one (in some
English versions/paraphrases - like the CEV, GN, NIV - the sentence
isn't passive)?

Thanks.
luke

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