The book of Esther has been transmitted in many variant forms, more than is the case with other Old Testament books. This concerns both the Hebrew text—which comprises a total of 3044 words—and closely related texts in the form of translations. A striking number of manuscripts of Esther have been found, especially in the Hebrew language in which the book was originally written. This large number is probably related to the fact that almost every Jewish family wanted to have a copy of the text of Esther to read on Purim.
Thanks to the great care with which the Masoretes and their successors transmitted these texts –none of them is older than the eleventh century AD– there are no striking differences between these manuscripts. There are also no variations between the Palestinian and Babylonian consonantal texts of Esther; any variances that occur concern only the vocalization and accentuation, which do not affect the meaning of the text. In general it can be said that the Hebrew text of Esther (MT) has been well preserved. A few difficult parts of the text occur (for example, Esther 1:22; Esther 2:19; Esther 7:4).1
1 C'était du temps d'Assuérus, de cet Assuérus qui régnait depuis l'Inde jusqu'en Ethiopie sur cent vingt-sept provinces;