After these things, when the wrath of King Ahasuerus was pacified, he remembered Vashti, and what she had done, and what was decreed against her. 2Then the king’s servants who served him said, “Let beautiful young virgins be sought for the king. 3Let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of his kingdom, that they may gather together all the beautiful young virgins to Shushan the palace, to the house of the women, to the custody of Hegai the king’s eunuch, keeper of the women; and let their things for purification be given them; 4and let the maiden who pleases the king be queen instead of Vashti.” The thing pleased the king; and he did so.
5There was a certain Jew in the citadel of Susa, whose name was Mordecai son of Jair, son of Shimei, son of Kish, of the tribe of Binyamin1, 6who had been carried away from Jerusalem with the captives who had been carried away with Jeconiah2 king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away. 7He brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle’s daughter; for she had neither father nor mother, and the maiden was fair and beautiful; and when her father and mother were dead, Mordecai took her for his own daughter.
8So, when the king’s commandment and his decree was heard, and when many maidens were gathered together to the citadel of Susa, to the custody of Hegai, Esther was taken into the king’s house, to the custody of Hegai, keeper of the women. 9The maiden pleased him, and she obtained kindness of him; and he quickly gave her cosmetics, with her food portions, and the seven maidens selected for her out of the king’s house: and he moved her and her maidens to the best place in the house of the women. 10Esther had not made known her people nor her relatives; for Mordecai had instructed her that she should not make it known. 11Mordecai walked every day in front the court of the women’s house, to know how Esther was doing, and what would become of her.
12Each maiden’s turn came to go in to King Ahasuerus, after a prescribed twelve months of beautification (the time of beautification involved six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with sweet fragrances and preparations for beautifying women). 13The maiden then came to the king like this: whatever she desired was given her to go with her out of the women’s house to the king’s house. 14In the evening she went, and on the next day she returned into the second house of the women, to the custody of Shaashgaz, the king’s eunuch, who kept the concubines. She came in to the king no more, unless the king delighted in her, and she was called by name.
15Now when the turn of Esther daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her for his daughter, came to go in to the king, she required nothing but what Hegai the king’s eunuch, the keeper of the women, advised. Esther obtained favour in the sight of all those who looked at her.
16So Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus into his house royal in the tenth month, which is the month Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign. 17The king loved Esther above all the women, and she obtained favour and kindness in his sight more than all the virgins; so that he set the royal crown on her head, and made her queen instead of Vashti.
18Then the king made a great feast to all his princes and his servants, even Esther’s feast; and he declared a holiday in the provinces, and gave gifts according to the bounty of the king.
19When the virgins were gathered together the second time, Mordecai was sitting in the king’s gate. 20Esther had not yet made known her relatives nor her people; as Mordecai had instructed her: for Esther obeyed Mordecai, just as when she was brought up by him. 21In those days, while Mordecai was sitting in the king’s gate, two of the king’s eunuchs, Bigthan and Teresh, who were doorkeepers, were angry, and sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus. 22The thing became known to Mordecai, who told it to Esther the queen; and Esther told the king of it in Mordecai’s name. 23When an investigation was made of the matter, and it was found to be so, they were both hanged on a tree: and it was written in the book of the chronicles before the king.
- 2:5 Binyamin, or Benjamin, derived from the Hebrew name Benyamin, meaning “Son of the right hand.” ↩︎
- 2:6 Jeconiah, a Hebrew name meaning, “YAHWEH will establish.” (YAHWEH is God’s personal Name revealed to Prophet Musa in the Taurat, Exodus 3:15: ‘God said moreover to Musa, “You shall tell Bani-Israel this, ‘YAHWEH, the God of your fathers, the God of Ibrahim, the God of Ishaq, and the God of Yaqub, has sent me to you.’ This is my Name forever, and this is how I am to be remembered to all generations.”’) ↩︎