CHAPTER 2

¹After these things, when King Ahasuerus’s wrath subsided, he recalled Vashti and what she had done and what was decreed about her. ²And the king’s lads, his servants, said, “Let virgins comely to look at be sought out for the king. ³And let the king appoint officials in all provinces of his kingdom, and every young virgin woman comely to look at be gathered in Shushan at the women’s house by Hegai the king’s eunuch, keeper of the women, and let them be given unguents. ⁴And the 4 young woman who will be pleasing in the eyes of the king shall rule in Vashti’s stead.” And the thing was pleasing in the eyes of the king, and so did he do. ⁵There was a Jew in Shushan the capital, and his name was Mordecai son of Jair son of Shimei son of Kish, a Benjaminite man, ⁶who had been exiled from Jerusalem with the group of exiles that was exiled with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had exiled. ⁷And he became guardian to Hadassah, which is to say, Esther, his uncle’s daughter, for she had no father or mother. And the young woman was comely in features and comely to look at, and when her father and her mother died, Mordecai had taken her as his daughter. ⁸And it happened when the king’s word and his rule were heard, and many young women were gathered in Shushan the capital by Hegai, that Esther was taken into the king’s house by Hegai, keeper of the women. ⁹And the young woman was pleasing in his eyes, and she won favor before him, and he hastened to bring her unguents and her share of food to give to her and the seven young women who were fit to give her from the king’s house, and he singled her out and her young women for good treatment in the women’s house. ¹⁰Esther did not tell who were her people and her kin, for Mordecai had charged her not to tell. ¹¹And every single day Mordecai would go walking in front of the women’s court to know how Esther fared and what would be done for her. ¹²And when each young woman’s turn came to come to the king, at the conclusion of her having twelve months, according to the women’s rule, for thus would the days of their unguents be completed—six months in oil of myrrh and six months in perfumes and women’s unguents—¹³and in this fashion would the young woman come to the king, whatever she would say would be granted her to take with her from the women’s house to the house of the king. ¹⁴In the evening she would come, and in the morning she would go back to the women’s house again in the hands of Shaashgaz, the king’s eunuch, keeper of the concubines. She would not come again to the king unless the king desired her and she was called by name. ¹⁵And when the turn came of Esther daughter of Abihail, Mordecai’s uncle, whom he had taken as his daughter, to come to the king, she asked nothing but what Hegai the king’s eunuch would say. And Esther found favor in the eyes of all who saw her. ¹⁶And Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus, to his royal house, in the tenth month, which is the month of Teveth, in the seventh year of his reign. ¹⁷And the king loved Esther more than all the women, and she won grace and favor before him more than all the virgins, and he put the royal crown on her head and made her queen in Vashti’s stead. ¹⁸And the king made a great banquet for all his ministers and his servants, Esther’s banquet, and he granted relief of taxes for the provinces, and he gave gifts in kingly fashion. ¹⁹And when the virgins gathered a second time, with Mordecai sitting in the king’s gate, ²⁰Esther was not telling who were her kin and her people, as Mordecai had charged her, and Esther did what Mordecai said, for she was under his guardianship. ²¹In those days, when Mordecai was sitting in the king’s gate, Bigetha and Theresh, two of the king’s eunuchs, of the guardians of the threshold, became furious and sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus. ²²And the matter became known to Mordecai and he told Esther, and Esther spoke to the king in Mordecai’s name. ²³And the matter was searched out and found to be so, and the two of them were impaled on stakes, and it was written down in the Book of Acts before the king.