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Esther 2:1-18 — Esther Becomes Queen

Esth.2.1-18

¹After these things, when the anger of King Ahasuerus had subsided, he remembered Vashti, what she had done, and what had been decreed against her. ²Then the king's attendants said, 'Let beautiful young virgins be sought for the king.' ³Let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of his kingdom, and let them gather every beautiful young virgin to Susa the citadel, to the women's house, into the custody of Hegai the king's eunuch, keeper of the women. Let their cosmetics be provided. ⁴Then the young woman who pleases the king shall become queen instead of Vashti.' This proposal pleased the king, and he did so. ⁵Now there was a Jewish man in Susa the citadel whose name was Mordecai son of Jair, son of Shimei, son of Kish, a Benjaminite. ⁶He had been carried away from Jerusalem with the exiles who had been carried away with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away. ⁷He was bringing up Hadassah, that is, Esther, the daughter of his uncle, because she had neither father nor mother. The young woman was beautiful in form and appearance, and when her father and mother died, Mordecai took her as his own daughter. ⁸So when the king's command and decree were heard, and many young women were gathered to Susa the citadel into the custody of Hegai, Esther also was taken to the king's house, into the custody of Hegai, keeper of the women. ⁹The young woman pleased him and found favor before him, so he quickly provided her with her cosmetics and her portions of food, along with seven chosen young women from the king's house to be assigned to her. He advanced her and her attendants to the best place in the women's house. ¹⁰Esther did not make known her people or her family background, because Mordecai had commanded her not to make it known. ¹¹And every day Mordecai would walk about in front of the court of the women's house to learn how Esther was and what would happen to her. ¹²Now when the turn of each young woman came to go to King Ahasuerus, after she had completed twelve months according to the regulation for the women—for this was how the days of their beauty treatments were completed: six months with oil of myrrh and six months with spices and women's cosmetics— ¹³then the young woman would go to the king in this way: whatever she requested would be given to her to take with her from the women's house to the king's house. ¹⁴In the evening she would go in, and in the morning she would return to the second women's house, into the custody of Shaashgaz the king's eunuch, keeper of the concubines. She would not go again to the king unless the king delighted in her and she was summoned by name. ¹⁵When the turn came for Esther daughter of Abihail, the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her as his own daughter, to go to the king, she asked for nothing except what Hegai the king's eunuch, keeper of the women, advised. And Esther won favor in the eyes of all who saw her. ¹⁶So Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus, to his royal palace, in the tenth month, that is, the month Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign. ¹⁷The king loved Esther more than all the women, and she won favor and kindness before him more than all the virgins. So he set the royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti. ¹⁸Then the king held a great banquet for all his officials and servants—Esther's banquet. He proclaimed a holiday in the provinces and gave tribute according to the king's bounty.

Translation Notes

4/11/2026

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