Mordecai Thwarts a Plot to Kill Ahasuerus

¹⁹ When the virgins were gathered a second time, Mordecai was sitting in the king’s gate. ²⁰ Now Esther had not declared her heritage^[a] or her people, just as Mordecai had instructed her, for Esther did what Mordecai told her just as she had done when she was raised by him. ²¹ At that time when Mordecai was sitting in the king’s gate, Bigthan and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs among those who guarded the threshold,^[b] became angry and conspired to assassinate^[c] King Ahasuerus. ²² When Mordecai learned about the plot, he told Queen Esther, and she told the king in Mordecai’s name. ²³ After the matter had been fully investigated, Bigthan and Teresh^[d] were hanged^[e] on a pole, and this was recorded in the Book of the Chronicles in the presence of the king.