Esther 2:3-21

3And may the king appoint overseers in 1all the provinces of his kingdom, and have them 2bring every beautiful young virgin to the citadel of Susa, to the harem, into the custody of 3Hegai, the king’s eunuch, who is in charge of the women; and 4let their cosmetics be given to them. 4Then let the young woman who pleases the king be queen in place of Vashti.” And the 5suggestion pleased the king, and he did accordingly.

5There was a Jew at the citadel in Susa whose name was 6Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjaminite, 67who had been taken from Jerusalem with the exiles who had been deported with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had deported. 7He was the guardian to Hadassah, that is 8Esther, his uncle’s daughter, for she had no father or mother. Now the young woman was beautiful of form and 9face, and when her father and her mother died, Mordecai took her as his own daughter.

8So it came about, when the command and decree of the king were heard and 10many young ladies were gathered to the citadel of Susa into the 11custody of 12Hegai, that Esther was taken to the king’s 13palace into the custody of Hegai, who was in charge of the women. 9Now the young lady pleased him and found favor with him. So he quickly provided her with her 14cosmetics and 15food, gave her seven choice female attendants from the king’s palace, and transferred her and her attendants to the best place in the harem. 1016Esther did not reveal her people or her kindred, because Mordecai had instructed her that she was not to reveal them. 11And every day Mordecai walked back and forth in front of the courtyard of the harem to learn how Esther was and what was happening to her.

12Now when the turn came for each young woman to go in to King Ahasuerus, after the end of her twelve months under the regulations for the women--for the days of their beauty treatment were completed as follows: six months with oil of myrrh and six months with balsam oil and the cosmetics for women-- 13the young woman would go in to the king in this way: anything that she 17desired was given her to 18take with her from the harem to the king’s palace. 14In the evening she would enter and in the morning she would return to the second harem, to the 19custody 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 delighted in her and she was summoned by name.

15Now when the turn of Esther, 20the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai who had taken her as his daughter, came to go in to the king, she did not request anything except what 21Hegai, the king’s eunuch who was in charge of the women, 22advised. And Esther was finding favor in the eyes of all who saw her. 16So Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus in his royal palace in the tenth month, which is the month Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign.

17The king loved Esther more than all the women, and she found favor and kindness with him more than all the virgins, so that 23he set the royal turban on her head and made her queen in place of Vashti. 18Then 24the king held a great banquet, Esther’s banquet, for all his officials and his servants; he also made a holiday for the provinces and gave gifts 25in proportion to the king’s bounty.

1926Now when the virgins were gathered together for the second time, then Mordecai 27was sitting at the king’s gate. 2028Esther still had not revealed her relatives or her people, just as Mordecai had instructed her; for Esther did 29what Mordecai told her just as she had 30when under his care. 21In those days, while Mordecai was sitting at the king’s gate, 31Bigthan and Teresh, two of the king’s officials from those who guarded the door, became angry and sought to 32attack King Ahasuerus.