Esther 2

1After these things, when the anger of King Ahasuerus had died down, he remembered Vashti and what she had done and what had been decreed against her.

2Then the king’s young men who attended him said, “Let beautiful young virgins be sought out for the king.

3Let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of his kingdom to gather every beautiful young virgin to the harem in Susa the citadel, under the care of Hegai, the king’s eunuch who is in charge of the women, and let their beauty treatments be given to them.

4Then let the young woman who pleases the king become queen instead of Vashti.” This advice pleased the king, and he did so.

5Now there was a Jew in Susa the citadel whose name was Mordecai son of Jair, son of Shimei, son of Kish, a Benjaminite.

6He had been carried into exile from Jerusalem among the captives taken with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried into exile.

7He was bringing up Hadassah, that is, Esther, the daughter of his uncle, for she had neither father nor mother. The young woman had a lovely figure and was beautiful to look at, and when her father and mother died, Mordecai took her as his own daughter.

8So when the king’s command and his decree were proclaimed, and many young women were gathered to Susa the citadel under the care of Hegai, Esther also was taken into the king’s palace and put under the care of Hegai, who was in charge of the women.

9The young woman pleased him and won his favor. He quickly provided her with her beauty treatments and her portions of food, and with seven chosen young women from the king’s palace, and he moved her and her young women to the best place in the harem.

10Esther had not revealed her people or her family background, because Mordecai had ordered her not to reveal it.

11Every day Mordecai walked back and forth in front of the court of the harem to find out how Esther was and what was happening to her.

12Each young woman’s turn to go in to King Ahasuerus came after she had completed twelve months under the regulations for the women, for this was how the days of their beauty treatment were fulfilled: six months with oil of myrrh and six months with spices and other beauty treatments for women.

13When the young woman went in to the king in this way, she was given whatever she asked for to take with her from the harem to the king’s palace.

14In the evening she would go in, and in the morning she would return to the second harem, under the care of Shaashgaz, the king’s eunuch who was in charge of the concubines. She would not go in to the king again unless the king was pleased with her and she was summoned by name.

15When the turn came for Esther daughter of Abihail, the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her as his daughter, to go in to the king, she asked for nothing except what Hegai, the king’s eunuch who was in charge of the women, advised. And Esther won the favor of everyone who saw her.

16Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus in his royal palace in the tenth month, the month of Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign.

17The king loved Esther more than all the other women, and she won his grace and favor more than all the virgins. So he set the royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti.

18Then the king gave a great banquet for all his officials and servants, Esther’s banquet. He granted relief to the provinces and gave gifts with royal generosity.

19When the virgins were gathered a second time, Mordecai was sitting at the king’s gate.

20Esther still had not revealed her family background or her people, just as Mordecai had ordered her. Esther continued to follow Mordecai’s instructions, just as she had when she was being brought up by him.

21In those days, while Mordecai was sitting at the king’s gate, Bigthan and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs who guarded the threshold, became angry and plotted to lay hands on King Ahasuerus.

22But Mordecai learned of the plot and told Queen Esther, and Esther told the king in Mordecai’s name.

23When the matter was investigated and found to be true, both men were hanged on a pole. And it was recorded in the book of the annals in the king’s presence.