A New Queen Is Sought
2 1 After all this, when the anger of King Xerxes had cooled, he remembered Vashti, what she had done, and what had been decreed against her. 2 Then the king's attendants who served him said, "Let beautiful young virgins be sought out for the king. 3 Let the king appoint commissioners in every province of his kingdom to gather every beautiful young virgin to the fortress of Susa, into the harem under the care of Hegai, the king's eunuch in charge of the women, and let them be given their beauty treatments. 4 And let the young woman who pleases the king become queen in place of Vashti." This advice pleased the king, and he did so.
5 Now in the fortress of Susa there was a Jewish man named Mordecai son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjaminite, 6 who had been carried into exile from Jerusalem among the captives taken with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away. 7 He was raising Hadassah—that is, Esther—the daughter of his uncle, for she had neither father nor mother. The young woman was beautiful in form and lovely to look at, and when her father and mother died, Mordecai had taken her as his own daughter.
8 So when the king's command and decree were heard and many young women were gathered to the fortress of Susa under the care of Hegai, Esther too was taken to the king's palace and placed under the care of Hegai, who was in charge of the women. 9 The young woman pleased him and won his favor, so he quickly provided her with her beauty treatments and her portion of food, assigned to her seven chosen young women from the king's palace, and moved her and her young women to the best place in the harem. 10 Esther had not revealed her people or her family background, because Mordecai had directed her not to make it known. 11 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 each young woman had her turn to go in to King Xerxes only after completing twelve months of beauty treatments prescribed for the women—six months with oil of myrrh and six months with perfumes and cosmetics. 13 And this is how each young woman would go to the king: whatever she asked for was given to her to take with her from the harem to the king's palace. 14 In the evening she would go in, and in the morning she would return to a second harem under the care of Shaashgaz, the king's eunuch in charge of the concubines. She would not go to the king again unless he delighted in her and summoned her by name.
15 When the turn came for Esther—the daughter of Abihail, the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her as his own daughter—to go to the king, she asked for nothing except what Hegai, the king's eunuch in charge of the women, suggested. And Esther won the favor of everyone who saw her.
16 So Esther was taken to King Xerxes in his royal palace in the tenth month, the month of Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign. a a v16 Tebeth is the tenth month of the Hebrew calendar, roughly December–January.
17 The king loved Esther more than all the other women, and she won his grace and favor more than all the other virgins. So he set the royal crown on her head and made her queen in place of Vashti.
18 Then the king gave a great banquet, Esther's banquet, for all his officials and servants. He proclaimed a holiday throughout the provinces and gave gifts with royal generosity.
19 Now when the virgins were gathered a second time, Mordecai was sitting at the king's gate. 20 Esther still had not revealed her family background or her people, just as Mordecai had directed her, for Esther obeyed Mordecai as she had when he was raising her.
Mordecai Uncovers a Plot Against the King
21 In those days, while Mordecai was sitting at the king's gate, Bigthan and Teresh, two of the king's eunuchs who guarded the doorway, grew angry and plotted to kill King Xerxes. 22 But the plot became known to Mordecai, and he told Queen Esther, and Esther reported it to the king in Mordecai's name. 23 When the matter was investigated and found to be true, the two men were impaled on a pole. And it was recorded in the book of the chronicles in the king's presence.