Esther 2
2
Esther Becomes Queen
1After a while, King Xerxes got over being angry. But he kept thinking about what Vashti had done and the law that he had written because of her. 2Then the king's personal servants said:
Your Majesty, a search must be made to find you some beautiful young women. 3You can select officers in every province to bring them to the place where you keep your wives in the capital city of Susa. Put your servant Hegai in charge of them since that is his job. He can see to it that they are given the proper beauty treatments. 4Then let the young woman who pleases you most take Vashti's place as queen.
King Xerxes liked these suggestions, and he followed them.
5At this time a Jew named Mordecai was living in Susa. His father was Jair, and his grandfather Shimei was the son of Kish from the tribe of Benjamin. 6#2 K 24.10-16; 2 Ch 36.10. Kish#2.6 Kish: Or “Mordecai.” The Hebrew text has “He.” was one of the people that Nebuchadnezzar had taken from Jerusalem, when he took King Jeconiah of Judah to Babylonia.
7Mordecai had a very beautiful cousin named Esther, whose Hebrew name was Hadassah. He had raised her as his own daughter, after her father and mother died. 8When the king ordered the search for beautiful women, many were taken to the king's palace in Susa, and Esther was one of them.
Hegai was put in charge of all the women, 9and from the first day, Esther was his favorite. He began her beauty treatments at once. He also gave her plenty of food and seven special maids from the king's palace, and they had the best rooms.
10Mordecai had warned Esther not to tell anyone that she was a Jew, and she obeyed him. 11He was anxious to see how Esther was getting along and to learn what had happened to her. So each day he would walk back and forth in front of the court where the women lived.
12The young women were given beauty treatments for one whole year. The first six months their skin was rubbed with olive oil and myrrh, and the last six months it was treated with perfumes and cosmetics. Then each of them spent the night alone with King Xerxes. 13When a young woman went to the king, she could wear whatever clothes or jewelry she chose from the women's living quarters. 14In the evening she would go to the king, and the following morning she would go to the place where his wives stayed after being with him. There a man named Shaashgaz was in charge of the king's wives.#2.14 wives: This translates a Hebrew word for women who were legally bound to a man, but without the full privileges of a wife. Only the ones the king wanted and asked for by name could go back to the king.
15-16Xerxes had been king for seven years when Esther's turn came to go to him during Tebeth,#2.15,16 Tebeth: The tenth month of the Hebrew calendar, from about mid-December to mid-January. the tenth month of the year. Everyone liked Esther. The king's personal servant Hegai was in charge of the women, and Esther trusted Hegai and asked him what she ought to take with her.#2.15,16 her: The Hebrew text adds, “Esther was the daughter of Abihail and was the cousin of Mordecai, who had adopted her after her parents died” (see verse 7).
17Xerxes liked Esther more than he did any of the other young women. None of them pleased him as much as she did, and he immediately fell in love with her and crowned her queen in place of Vashti. 18In honor of Esther he gave a big dinner for his leaders and officials. Then he declared a holiday#2.18 holiday: The Hebrew expression refers to a certain amount of time when the people did not have to pay their regular taxes. everywhere in his kingdom and gave expensive gifts.
Mordecai Saves the King's Life
19When the young women were brought together again, Esther's cousin Mordecai had become a palace official. 20He had told Esther never to tell anyone that she was a Jew, and she obeyed him, just as she had always done.
21Bigthana and Teresh were the two men who guarded King Xerxes' rooms, but they got angry with the king and decided to kill him. 22Mordecai found out about their plans and asked Queen Esther to tell the king what he had found out. 23King Xerxes learned that Mordecai's report was true, and he had the two men hanged. Then the king had all of this written down in his record book as he watched.
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
Esther 2
2
1After these things, when the fury of king Ahasuerus was appeased, he remembered Vashti, and what she had done, and what was decreed against her. 2Then said the king's servants that attended upon him, Let there be maidens, virgins of beautiful countenance, sought for the king; 3and let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of his kingdom, that they may gather together all the young virgins of beautiful countenance to Shushan the fortress, 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. 4And let the maiden that pleaseth the king be queen instead of Vashti. And the thing pleased the king; and he did so. 5There was in Shushan the fortress a certain Jew, whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjaminite, 6who had been carried away from Jerusalem with the captives who had been carried away with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar the 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. 8And it came to pass when the king's commandment and his decree was heard, and when many maidens were gathered together unto Shushan the fortress, unto the custody of Hegai, that Esther also was brought into the king's house, unto the custody of Hegai, keeper of the women. 9And the maiden pleased him, and obtained favour before him; and he speedily gave her her things for purification, and her portions, and the seven maidens selected to be given her, out of the king's house; and he removed her and her maids to the best place of the house of the women. 10Esther had not made known her people nor her birth; for Mordecai had charged her that she should not make it known. 11And Mordecai walked every day before the court of the women's house, to know how Esther did, and what should become of her. 12And when every maiden's turn came to go in to king Ahasuerus after that she had been treated for twelve months, according to the manner of the women (for so were the days of their purification accomplished — six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with spices, and with things for the purifying of the women, 13and thus came the maiden in unto the king), whatever she desired was given her to go with her out of the house of the women to the king's house. 14In the evening she went, and on the morrow she returned into the second house of the women, unto the custody of Shaashgaz, the king's chamberlain, keeper of the concubines. She came in to the king no more, unless the king delighted in her, and she were called by name. 15And when the turn of Esther, the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her for his daughter, came to go in to the king, she required nothing but what Hegai the king's chamberlain, keeper of the women, appointed. And Esther obtained grace in the sight of all them that saw her. 16So Esther was taken to king Ahasuerus, into his royal house, in the tenth month, that 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, and he set the royal crown upon her head, and made her queen instead of Vashti. 18And the king made a great feast to all his princes and his servants, Esther's feast; and he made a release to the provinces, and gave presents according to the king's bounty. 19And when the virgins were gathered together the second time, Mordecai sat in the king's gate. 20(Esther, as Mordecai had charged her, had not yet made known her birth nor her people; for Esther did what Mordecai told her, 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 threshold, were wroth, and sought to lay hand on the king Ahasuerus. 22And the thing became known to Mordecai, and he related it to Esther the queen, and Esther told it to the king in Mordecai's name. 23And the matter was investigated and found out; and they were both hanged on a tree. And it was written in the book of the chronicles before the king.
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First published in 1890. This edition is maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.