Esther 2

¹After 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 said the king’s servants that ministered unto him, Let there be fair young virgins sought for the king: ³and let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of his kingdom, that young virgins unto Shushan the palace, they may gather together all the fair to the house of the women, unto the custody of Hegai the king’s chamberlain, keeper of the women; and let their things for purification be given them: ⁴and let the maiden which pleaseth the king be queen instead of Vashti. And the thing pleased the king, and he did so. ⁵There was a certain Jew in Shushan the palace, whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite; ⁶who had been carried away from Jerusalem with the captives which had been carried away with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar he king of Babylon had carried away. ⁷And he 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 it came to pass, when the king’s commandment and his decree was heard, and when many maidens were gathered together unto Shushan the palace, to the custody of Hegai, that Esther was taken into the king’s house, to the custody of Hegai, keeper of the women. ⁹And the maiden pleased him, and she obtained kindness of him; and he speedily gave her her things for purification, with her portions, and the seven maidens, which were meet to be given her, out of the king’s house: and he removed her and her maidens to the best place of the house of the women. ¹⁰Esther had not shewed her people nor her kindred: for Mordecai had charged her that she should not shew it. ¹¹And Mordecai walked every day before the court of the women’s house, to know how Esther did, and what should become of her. ¹²Now when the turn of every maiden was come to go in to king Ahasuerus, after that it had been done to her according to the law for the women, twelve months, (for so were the days of their purifications accomplished, to wit, six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with sweet odours, and with the things for the purifying of the women,) ¹³then in this wise came the maiden unto the king, whatsoever she desired was given her to go with her out of the house of the women unto the king’s house. ¹⁴In the evening she went, and on the morrow she returned into the second house of the women, to the custody of Shaashgaz, the king’s chamberlain, which kept the concubines: she came in unto the king no more, except the king delighted in her, and that she were called by name. ¹⁵Now when the turn of Esther, the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her for his daughter, was come to go in unto the king, she required nothing but what Hegai the king’s chamberlain, the keeper of the women, appointed. And Esther obtained favour in the sight of all them that looked upon her. ¹⁶So Esther was taken unto king Ahasuerus into his house royal in the tenth month, which is the month Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign. ¹⁷And the king loved Esther above all the women, and she obtained grace and favour in his sight more than all the virgins; so that he set the royal crown upon her head, and made her queen instead of Vashti. ¹⁸Then the king made a great feast unto all his princes and his servants, even Esther’s feast; and he made a release to the provinces, and gave gifts, according to the bounty of the king. ¹⁹And when the virgins were gathered together the second time, then Mordecai sat in the king’s gate. ²⁰Esther had not yet shewed her kindred nor her people; as Mordecai had charged her: for Esther did the commandment of Mordecai, like as when she was brought up with him. ²¹In those days, while Mordecai sat in the king’s gate, two of the king’s chamberlains, Bigthan and Teresh, of those which kept the door, were wroth, and sought to lay hands on the king Ahasuerus. ²²And the thing was known to Mordecai, who shewed it unto Esther the queen; and Esther told the king thereofin Mordecai’s name. ²³And when inquisition 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.