Esther 2:1-4:16

Christian Standard Bible

The Search for a New Queen

2 Some time later,^(A) when King Ahasuerus’s rage^(B) had cooled down, he remembered Vashti, what she had done, and what was decided against her.^{(C) 2} The king’s personal attendants suggested, “Let a search be made for beautiful young virgins for the king.^{(D) 3} Let the king appoint commissioners^(E) in each province of his kingdom, so that they may gather all the beautiful young virgins to the harem at the fortress of Susa.^(F) Put them under the supervision of Hegai, the king’s eunuch,^(G) keeper of the women,^(H) and give them the required beauty treatments. ⁴ Then the young woman who pleases the king^(I) will become queen instead of Vashti.”^(J) This suggestion pleased the king, and he did accordingly.

⁵ In the fortress of Susa, there was a Jewish man named Mordecai^(K) son of Jair, son of Shimei,^(L) son of Kish,^(M) a Benjaminite. ⁶ Kish^[a] had been taken into exile from Jerusalem with the other captives when King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon took King Jeconiah of Judah into exile.^{(N) 7} Mordecai was the legal guardian of his cousin^[b] Hadassah (that is, Esther), because she had no father or mother. The young woman had a beautiful figure and was extremely good-looking. When her father and mother died, Mordecai had adopted her as his own daughter.^(O)

⁸ When the king’s command and edict became public knowledge and when many young women were gathered at the fortress of Susa under Hegai’s supervision, Esther was taken to the palace, into the supervision of Hegai, keeper of the women. ⁹ The young woman pleased him and gained his favor so that he accelerated the process of the beauty treatments and the special diet that she received. He assigned seven hand-picked female servants to her from the palace and transferred her and her servants to the harem’s best quarters.

¹⁰ Esther did not reveal her ethnicity or her family background, because Mordecai had ordered her not to make them known. ¹¹ Every day Mordecai took a walk in front of the harem’s courtyard to learn how Esther was doing and to see what was happening to her.

¹² During the year before each young woman’s turn to go to King Ahasuerus, the harem regulation required her to receive beauty treatments with oil of myrrh for six months and then with perfumes and cosmetics for another six months. ¹³ When the young woman would go to the king, she was given whatever she requested to take with her from the harem to the palace. ¹⁴ She would go in the evening, and in the morning she would return to a second harem under the supervision of the king’s eunuch Shaashgaz, keeper of the concubines.^(P) She never went to the king again, unless he desired her and summoned her by name.^(Q)

Esther Becomes Queen

¹⁵ Esther was the daughter of Abihail,^(R) the uncle of Mordecai who had adopted her as his own daughter. When her turn came to go to the king, she did not ask for anything except what Hegai, the king’s eunuch, keeper of the women, suggested. Esther gained favor in the eyes of everyone who saw her.^(S)

¹⁶ She was taken to King Ahasuerus in the palace in the tenth month, the month Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign.^{(T) 17} The king loved Esther more than all the other women. She won more favor and approval from him than did any of the other virgins. He placed the royal crown on her head and made her queen in place of Vashti.^{(U) 18} The king held a great banquet for all his officials and staff.^(V) It was Esther’s banquet. He freed his provinces from tax payments and gave gifts worthy of the king’s bounty.^(W)

Mordecai Saves the King

¹⁹ When the virgins^(X) were gathered a second time, Mordecai was sitting at the King’s Gate.^{(Y) 20} Esther still did not reveal her family background or her ethnicity, as Mordecai had directed. She obeyed Mordecai’s orders, as she always had while he raised her.

²¹ During those days while Mordecai was sitting at the King’s Gate, Bigthan and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs^(Z) who guarded the entrance, became infuriated and planned to assassinate^[c] King Ahasuerus. ²² When Mordecai learned of the plot, he reported it to Queen Esther, and she told the king on Mordecai’s behalf.^{(AA) 23} When the report was investigated and verified, both men were hanged on the gallows.^(AB) This event was recorded in the Historical Record in the king’s presence.

Haman’s Plan to Kill the Jews

3 After all this took place, King Ahasuerus honored Haman, son of Hammedatha the Agagite.^(AC) He promoted him in rank and gave him a higher position than all the other officials.^{(AD) 2} The entire royal staff at the King’s Gate^(AE) bowed down and paid homage to Haman, because the king had commanded this to be done for him. But Mordecai would not bow down or pay homage.^{(AF) 3} The members of the royal staff at the King’s Gate asked Mordecai, “Why are you disobeying the king’s command?” ⁴ When they had warned him day after day^(AG) and he still would not listen to them, they told Haman in order to see if Mordecai’s actions would be tolerated, since he had told them he was a Jew.

⁵ When Haman saw that Mordecai was not bowing down or paying him homage, he was filled with rage.^{(AH) 6} And when he learned of Mordecai’s ethnic identity, it seemed repugnant to Haman to do away with^[d] Mordecai alone. He planned to destroy all of Mordecai’s people, the Jews,^(AI) throughout Ahasuerus’s kingdom.^(AJ)

⁷ In the first month, the month of Nisan, in King Ahasuerus’s twelfth year,^(AK) the pur—that is, the lot—was cast before Haman for each day in each month, and it fell on the twelfth month,^(AL) the month Adar.^{(AM) 8} Then Haman informed King Ahasuerus, “There is one ethnic group, scattered throughout the peoples in every province of your kingdom,^(AN) keeping themselves separate. Their laws are different from everyone else’s and they do not obey the king’s laws.^(AO) It is not in the king’s best interest to tolerate them.^{(AP) 9} If the king approves, let an order be drawn up authorizing their destruction, and I will pay 375 tons of silver to^[e] the officials for deposit in the royal treasury.”^(AQ)

¹⁰ The king removed his signet ring^(AR) from his hand and gave it to Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews.^{(AS) 11} Then the king told Haman, “The money and people are given to you to do with as you see fit.”

¹² The royal scribes were summoned^(AT) on the thirteenth day of the first month, and the order was written exactly as Haman commanded. It was intended for the royal satraps,^(AU) the governors of each of the provinces, and the officials of each ethnic group and written for each province in its own script and to each ethnic group in its own language.^(AV) It was written in the name of King Ahasuerus^(AW) and sealed with the royal signet ring.^{(AX) 13} Letters were sent by couriers^(AY) to each of the royal provinces telling the officials to destroy, kill, and annihilate all the Jewish people—young and old, women and children—and plunder their possessions on a single day,^(AZ) the thirteenth day of Adar, the twelfth month.^[f]

¹⁴ A copy of the text, issued as law throughout every province, was distributed to all the peoples so that they might get ready for that day. ¹⁵ The couriers left, spurred on by royal command, and the law was issued in the fortress of Susa.^(BA) The king and Haman sat down to drink, while the city of Susa was in confusion.^(BB)

Mordecai Appeals to Esther

4 When Mordecai learned all that had occurred,^(BC) he tore his clothes,^(BD) put on sackcloth and ashes,^(BE) went into the middle of the city, and cried loudly and bitterly.^{(BF) 2} He went only as far as the King’s Gate,^(BG) since the law prohibited anyone wearing sackcloth from entering the King’s Gate. ³ There was great mourning among the Jewish people in every province where the king’s command and edict^(BH) reached. They fasted, wept, and lamented, and many lay in sackcloth and ashes.^(BI)

⁴ Esther’s female servants and her eunuchs came and reported the news to her, and the queen was overcome with fear.^(BJ) She sent clothes for Mordecai to wear so that he would take off his sackcloth, but he did not accept them. ⁵ Esther summoned Hathach, one of the king’s eunuchs who attended her, and dispatched him to Mordecai to learn what he was doing and why.^{[g] 6} So Hathach went out to Mordecai in the city square in front of the King’s Gate. ⁷ Mordecai told him everything that had happened as well as the exact amount of money Haman had promised to pay the royal treasury for the slaughter of the Jews.^(BK)

⁸ Mordecai also gave him a copy of the written decree issued in Susa ordering their destruction, so that Hathach might show it to Esther, explain it to her, and command her to approach the king, implore his favor, and plead with him personally for her people.^{(BL) 9} Hathach came and repeated Mordecai’s response to Esther.

¹⁰ Esther spoke to Hathach and commanded him to tell Mordecai, ¹¹ “All the royal officials and the people of the royal provinces know that one law applies to every man or woman who approaches the king in the inner courtyard^(BM) and who has not been summoned—the death penalty^(BN)—unless the king extends the gold scepter, allowing that person to live.^(BO) I have not been summoned to appear before the king^(BP) for the last^[h] thirty days.” ¹² Esther’s response was reported to Mordecai.

¹³ Mordecai told the messenger to reply to Esther, “Don’t think that you will escape the fate of all the Jews because you are in the king’s palace. ¹⁴ If you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will come to the Jewish people from another place,^(BQ) but you and your father’s family will be destroyed. Who knows, perhaps you have come to your royal position for such a time as this.”^(BR)

¹⁵ Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: ¹⁶ “Go and assemble all the Jews who can be found in Susa and fast for me. Don’t eat or drink for three days,^(BS) night or day. I and my female servants will also fast^(BT) in the same way. After that, I will go to the king even if it is against the law.^(BU) If I perish, I perish.”^(BV)