Esther 2

Seeking Vashtiʼs Successorⓘ

A search for a new queen begins¹Some time later, when the anger of King Xerxes had subsided, he remembered Vashti and what she had done, and what had been decreed against her.

²Then the kingʼs attendants proposed, “Let a search be made for beautiful young virgins for the king, ³and let the king appoint commissioners in each province of his kingdom to assemble all the beautiful young women into the harem at the citadel of Susa. Let them be placed under the care of Hegai, the kingʼs eunuch in charge of the women, and let them be given beauty treatments. ⁴Then let the young woman who pleases the king become queen in place of Vashti.”

This suggestion pleased the king, and he acted accordingly.

Esther Finds Favorⓘ

Mordecai and Esther enter the harem⁵Now there was at the citadel of Susa a Jewish man from the tribe of Benjamin named Mordecai son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish. ⁶He had been carried into exile from Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon among those taken captive with Jeconiah^a king of Judah.

⁷And Mordecai had brought up Hadassah (that is, Esther), the daughter of his uncle, because she did not have a father or mother. The young woman was lovely in form and appearance, and when her father and mother had died, Mordecai had taken her in as his own daughter.

⁸When the kingʼs command and edict had been proclaimed, many young women gathered at the citadel of Susa under the care of Hegai. Esther was also taken to the palace and placed under the care of Hegai, the custodian of the women. ⁹And the young woman pleased him and obtained his favor, so he quickly provided her with beauty treatments and the special diet. He assigned to her seven select maidservants from the palace and transferred her with them to the best place in the harem.

¹⁰Esther did not reveal her people or her lineage, because Mordecai had instructed her not to do so. ¹¹And every day Mordecai would walk back and forth in front of the court of the harem to learn about Estherʼs welfare and what was happening to her.

The year of preparation for the king¹²In the twelve months before her turn to go to King Xerxes, the harem regulation required each young woman to receive beauty treatments with oil of myrrh for six months, and then with perfumes and cosmetics for another six months. ¹³When the young woman would go to the king, she was given whatever she requested to take with her from the harem to the kingʼs palace. ¹⁴She would go there in the evening, and in the morning she would return to a second harem^b under the care of Shaashgaz, the kingʼs eunuch in charge of the concubines. She would not return to the king unless he delighted in her and summoned her by name.

Esther becomes queen¹⁵Now Esther was the daughter of Abihail, the uncle from whom Mordecai had adopted her as his own daughter. And when it was her turn to go to the king, she did not ask for anything except what Hegai, the kingʼs trusted official in charge of the harem, had advised. And Esther found favor in the eyes of everyone who saw her.

¹⁶She was taken to King Xerxes in the royal palace in the tenth month, the month of Tebeth,^c in the seventh year of his reign.

Esther Becomes Queenⓘ

¹⁷And the king loved Esther more than all the other women, and she found grace and favor in his sight more than all of the other virgins. So he placed the royal crown upon her head and made her queen in place of Vashti.

¹⁸Then the king held a great banquet, Estherʼs banquet, for all his officials and servants. He proclaimed a tax holiday in the provinces and gave gifts worthy of the kingʼs bounty.

Mordecai uncovers a plot against the king¹⁹When the virgins were assembled a second time, Mordecai was sitting at the kingʼs gate.^{d 20}Esther still had not revealed her lineage or her people, just as Mordecai had instructed. She obeyed Mordecaiʼs command, as she had done under his care.

Mordecai Uncovers a Conspiracyⓘ

²¹In those days, while Mordecai was sitting at the kingʼs gate, Bigthan^e and Teresh, two of the kingʼs eunuchs who guarded the entrance, grew angry and conspired to assassinate King Xerxes.

²²When Mordecai learned of the plot, he reported it to Queen Esther, and she informed the king on Mordecaiʼs behalf.

²³After the report had been investigated and verified, both officials were hanged on the gallows. And all this was recorded in the Book of the Chronicles^f in the presence of the king.