Esther Becomes Queen

¹² Each young woman’s turn came to go in to King Ahasuerus at the end of the twelve month period, at which time she was treated according to the regulations for women. This process^[a] completed the period of her beauty treatments—six months with oil of myrrh and six months with spices and cosmetics for women. ¹³ After that the young woman would go in to the king, and whatever she asked for would be given to her to take with her from the harem to the palace. ¹⁴ In the evening she would go into the palace^[b] and in the morning she would return to the second harem, into the care of Shaashgaz, the king’s eunuch who was in charge of the mistresses.^[c] She would not go again to the king unless the king wanted her and she was called for by name. ¹⁵ Now Esther was the daughter of Abihail, who had been Mordecai’s uncle. Mordecai had taken Esther in as his own^[d] daughter. When her turn came to go in to the king, she did not want anything except what Hegai, the king’s eunuch in charge of the harem, advised. Esther found favor with everyone who saw her. ¹⁶ Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus to his royal palace in the tenth month, which is the month Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign.

¹⁷ The king loved Esther more than any of the other women, so he favored her and was kinder to her than he was to any of the other virgins. He put the royal crown on her head and made her queen in place of Vashti. ¹⁸ The king put on a great banquet for all his officials and ministers^[e] to honor Esther. He declared a holiday for the provinces and gave generous gifts.^[f]