⁵ Now there was a Jew in Susa the citadel whose name was ^(A)Mordecai, the son of Jair, son of Shimei, son of Kish, a Benjaminite, ^6 (B)who had been carried away from Jerusalem among the captives carried away with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away. ⁷ He was bringing up Hadassah, that is Esther, ^(C)the daughter of his uncle, for she had neither father nor mother. The young woman had a beautiful figure and was lovely to look at, and when her father and her mother died, Mordecai took her as his own daughter. ⁸ So when the king's order and his edict were proclaimed, and ^(D)when many young women were gathered in Susa the citadel in custody of ^(E)Hegai, Esther also was taken into the king's palace and put in custody of Hegai, who had charge of the women.

¹⁵ When the turn came for Esther ^(A)the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her as his own daughter, to go in to the king, she asked for nothing except what ^(B)Hegai the king's eunuch, who had charge of the women, advised. Now Esther was winning favor in the eyes of all who saw her. ¹⁶ And when Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus, into his royal palace, in the tenth month, which is the month of Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign, ¹⁷ the king loved Esther more than all the women, and she won grace and favor in his sight more than all the virgins, so that he set ^(C)the royal crown^[a] on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti. ¹⁸ Then the king ^(D)gave a great feast for all his officials and servants; it was Esther's feast. He also granted a remission of taxes to the provinces and gave gifts with royal generosity.

Mordecai Discovers a Plot

¹⁹ Now when the virgins were gathered together ^(E)the second time, Mordecai was sitting ^(F)at the king's gate. ^20 (G)Esther had not made known her kindred or her people, as Mordecai had commanded her, for Esther obeyed Mordecai just ^(H)as when she was brought up by him. ²¹ In those days, as Mordecai was sitting at the king's gate, ^(I)Bigthan and ^(J)Teresh, two of the king's eunuchs, who guarded the threshold, became angry and sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus. ²² And this came to the knowledge of Mordecai, ^(K)and he told it to Queen Esther, and Esther told the king in the name of Mordecai. ²³ When the affair was investigated and found to be so, the men were both hanged on the gallows.^[b] And it was recorded in ^(L)the book of the chronicles in the presence of the king.