Vashti’s Successor Sought

2 After these things, ^(A)when the anger of King Ahasuerus had subsided, he remembered Vashti and what she had done, and ^(B)what had been decided regarding her. ² Then the king’s attendants, who served him, said, “^(C)Let beautiful young virgins be sought for the king. ³ And may the king appoint overseers in ^(D)all the provinces of his kingdom, and have them ^[a]bring every beautiful young virgin to the citadel of Susa, to the harem, into the custody of ^(E)Hegai, the king’s eunuch, who is in charge of the women; and ^(F)let their cosmetics be given to them. ⁴ Then let the young woman who pleases the king be queen in place of Vashti.” And the ^[b]suggestion pleased the king, and he did accordingly.

⁵ There was a Jew at the citadel in Susa whose name was ^(G)Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjaminite, ^6 (H)who 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. ⁷ He was the guardian to Hadassah, that is ^(I)Esther, his uncle’s daughter, for she had no father or mother. Now the young woman was beautiful of form and ^[c]face, and when her father and her mother died, Mordecai took her as his own daughter.

Esther Finds Favor

⁸ So it came about, when the command and decree of the king were heard and ^(J)many young ladies were gathered to the citadel of Susa into the ^[d]custody of ^(K)Hegai, that Esther was taken to the king’s ^[e]palace into the custody of Hegai, who was in charge of the women. ⁹ Now the young lady pleased him and found favor with him. So he quickly provided her with her ^(L)cosmetics and ^[f]food, gave her seven choice female attendants from the king’s palace, and transferred her and her attendants to the best place in the harem. ^10 (M)Esther did not reveal her people or her kindred, because Mordecai had instructed her that she was not to reveal them. ¹¹ And 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.

¹² Now 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— ¹³ the young woman would go in to the king in this way: anything that she ^[g]desired was given her to ^[h]take with her from the harem to the king’s palace. ¹⁴ In the evening she would enter and in the morning she would return to the second harem, to the ^[i]custody 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.

¹⁵ Now when the turn of Esther, ^(N)the 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 ^(O)Hegai, the king’s eunuch who was in charge of the women, ^[j]advised. And Esther was finding favor in the eyes of all who saw her. ¹⁶ So 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.

Esther Becomes Queen

¹⁷ The king loved Esther more than all the women, and she found favor and kindness with him more than all the virgins, so that ^(P)he set the royal turban on her head and made her queen in place of Vashti. ¹⁸ Then ^(Q)the 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 ^(R)in proportion to the king’s bounty.