2:1 After these things, when the wrath of king Ahasuerus was
appeased, he remembered Vashti, and what she had done, and what
was decreed against her.
2:2 Then said the king's servants that ministered to him, Let
there be fair young virgins sought for the king:
2:3 And let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of
his kingdom, that they may collect all the fair young virgins
to Shushan the palace, to the house of the women, into the
custody of Hege the king's chamberlain, keeper of the women;
and let their things for purification be given [them]:
2:4 And let the maiden who pleaseth the king be queen instead of
Vashti. And the thing pleased the king; and he did so.
2:5 [Now] in Shushan the palace there was a certain Jew, whose
name [was] Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the
son of Kish, a Benjaminite;
2:6 Who had been carried away from Jerusalem with the captivity
which had been carried away with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom
Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away.
2:7 And he brought up Hadassah, that [is], Esther, his uncle's
daughter: for she had neither father nor mother, and the maid
[was] fair and beautiful; whom Mordecai, when her father and
mother were dead, took for his own daughter.
2:8 So it came to pass, when the king's commandment and his
decree were heard, and when many maidens were assembled at
Shushan the palace, to the custody of Hegai, that Esther was
brought also to the king's house, to the custody of Hegai,
keeper of the women.
2:9 And the maiden pleased him, and she obtained kindness from
him; and he speedily gave her her things for purification, with
such things as belonged to her, and seven maidens [who were]
meet to be given her, out of the king's house: and he preferred
her and her maids to the best [place] of the house of the
women.
2:10 Esther had not showed her people nor her kindred: for
Mordecai had charged her that she should not show [it].
2:11 And Mordecai walked every day before the court of the
women's house, to know how Esther did, and what would become of
her.
2:12 Now when every maid's turn had come to go in to king
Ahasuerus, after that she had been twelve months, according to
the manner of the women, (for so were the days of their
purifications accomplished, [to wit], six months with oil of
myrrh, and six months with sweet odors, and with [other] things
for the purifying of the women;)
2:13 Then thus came [every] maiden to the king; whatever she
desired was given her to go with her out of the house of the
women to the king's house.
2:14 In 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, who kept the concubines: she
came in to the king no more, except that the king delighted in
her, and she was called by name.
2:15 Now when the turn of Esther, the daughter of Abihail the
uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her for his daughter, had come
to go in to the king, she required nothing but what Hegai the
king's chamberlain, the keeper of the women, appointed. And
Esther obtained favor in the sight of all them that looked upon
her.
2:16 So Esther was taken to king Ahasuerus into his house royal
in the tenth month, which [is] the month Tebeth, in the seventh
year of his reign.
2:17 And the king loved Esther above all the women, and she
obtained grace and favor 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.
2:18 Then the king made a great feast to all his princes and his
servants, [even] Esther's feast; and he made a release to the
provinces, and gave gifts, according to the state of the king.
2:19 And when the virgins were assembled the second time, then
Mordecai sat in the king's gate.
2:20 Esther had not [yet] showed her kindred, nor her people; as
Mordecai had charged her: for Esther performed the commandment
of Mordecai, as when she was brought up with him.
2:21 In those days, while Mordecai sat in the king's gate, two
of the king's chamberlains, Bigthan and Teresh, of those who
kept the door, were wroth, and sought to lay hand on the king
Ahasuerus.
2:22 And the thing was known to Mordecai, who told [it] to
Esther the queen; and Esther certified the king [of it] in
Mordecai's name.
2:23 And when inquisition was made of the matter, it was
discovered; therefore they were both hanged on a tree: and it
was written in the book of the chronicles before the king.
|