Esther 2
1 After a while, King Xerxes quit being so angry. He thought about Vashti, and he thought about the law he had made because of what she [had done, and he wanted another wife].
Some time later, when the anger of King Xerxes had subsided, he remembered Vashti and what she had done, and what had been decreed against her.
2 So his personal servants said to him, “[Your majesty, ] you should send some men to search throughout the empire for some beautiful young women/virgins for you.
Then the king’s attendants proposed, “Let a search be made for beautiful young virgins for the king,
3 [After they find some, ] you can appoint some officials in each province to bring them to the place where you keep (your wives/the women you sleep with) here in Susa. Then Hegai, the man who is in charge of these women, can arrange for ointments to be put [on their bodies] to make them [more] beautiful.
and let the king appoint commissioners in each province of his kingdom to assemble all the beautiful young women into the harem at the citadel of Susa. Let them be placed under the care of Hegai, the king’s eunuch in charge of the women, and let them be given beauty treatments.
4 Then the woman who pleases you most can become queen instead of Vashti.” The king liked what they suggested, so he did it.
Then let the young woman who pleases the king become queen in place of Vashti.” This suggestion pleased the king, and he acted accordingly.
5 At that time there was a Jew [living] in Susa, the capital, whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair. Jair was a descendant of Shimei. Shimei was a descendant of [King Saul’s father] Kish. [They were all] from the tribe descended from Benjamin.
Now there was at the citadel of Susa a Jewish man from the tribe of Benjamin named Mordecai son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish.
6 [Many years before that, ] King Nebuchadnezzar had taken (Mordecai/Mordecai’s family) [and brought them from Jerusalem] to Babylon, at the same time he brought King Jehoiachin of Judah and many other people to Babylon.
He had been carried into exile from Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon among those taken captive with Jeconiah king of Judah.
7 Mordecai had a cousin whose [Hebrew] name was Hadassah. She had a beautiful face and beautiful body/figure. Her [Persian] name was Esther. After her father and mother died, Mordecai took care of Esther as though she were his own daughter.
And Mordecai had brought up Hadassah (that is, Esther), the daughter of his uncle, because she did not have a father or mother. The young woman was lovely in form and appearance, and when her father and mother had died, Mordecai had taken her in as his own daughter.
8 After the king commanded [that they search for some beautiful women], they brought Esther and many other young women to the king’s palace [in Susa], and (the king put Hegai/Hegai was put) in charge of them.
When the king’s command and edict had been proclaimed, many young women gathered at the citadel of Susa under the care of Hegai. Esther was also taken to the palace and placed under the care of Hegai, the custodian of the women.
9 Hegai was very pleased with Esther, and he treated her well. He immediately arranged for her to be given ointments to make her [even more] beautiful, and [he ordered that] special food [would be given to her]. [He arranged that] seven maids from the king’s palace [would take care of her], and arranged that she/they would stay in the best rooms.
And the young woman pleased him and obtained his favor, so he quickly provided her with beauty treatments and the special diet. He assigned to her seven select maidservants from the palace and transferred her with them to the best place in the harem.
10 Esther did not tell anyone that she was a Jew, because Mordecai had told her not to tell anyone.
Esther did not reveal her people or her lineage, because Mordecai had instructed her not to do so.
11 Every day Mordecai walked near the courtyard of the place where those women stayed. He asked [people who entered the courtyard] to find out [and tell him] what was happening to Esther.
And every day Mordecai would walk back and forth in front of the court of the harem to learn about Esther’s welfare and what was happening to her.
12 Before these women were taken to the king, they put ointments on [the bodies of] these women for one year to make them more beautiful. For six months they [rubbed olive] oil mixed with myrrh [on their bodies each day]. For [the next] six months they rubbed ointments and perfumes on their bodies.
In the twelve months before her turn to go to King Xerxes, the harem regulation required each young woman to receive beauty treatments with oil of myrrh for six months, and then with perfumes and cosmetics for another six months.
13 Then, when one of these women [was summoned to] go to the king, she was allowed to wear whatever clothes and jewelry she chose.
When the young woman would go to the king, she was given whatever she requested to take with her from the harem to the king’s palace.
14 In the evening, they would take her [to the king’s own room]. The next morning, they would take her to another place where the women [who had slept with the king] stayed. There another official whose name was Shaashgaz was in charge [of those women]. [Those women would live there for the rest of their lives, and] one of those women would go back to the king again only if the king very much wanted her to come again, and only if he told Shaashgaz the name of the woman.
She would go there in the evening, 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 return to the king unless he delighted in her and summoned her by name.
15 Everyone who saw Esther liked her. After King Xerxes had been ruling for seven years, it was Esther’s turn to go to him. When they took her to the king, it was during the middle part of the winter. She wore only the things that Hegai suggested.
Now Esther was the daughter of Abihail, the uncle from whom Mordecai had adopted her as his own daughter. And when it was her turn to go to the king, she did not ask for anything except what Hegai, the king’s trusted official in charge of the harem, had advised. And Esther found favor in the eyes of everyone who saw her.
She was taken to King Xerxes in the royal palace in the tenth month, the month of Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign.
17 The king liked Esther more than he liked any of the other women [that they brought to him]. He liked her so much that he put on her head the queen’s crown, and he declared that Esther would be the queen instead of Vashti.
And the king loved Esther more than all the other women, and she found grace and favor in his sight more than all of the other virgins. So he placed the royal crown upon her head and made her queen in place of Vashti.
18 To celebrate her [becoming the queen], he had a big banquet/feast prepared for all his administrators and [other] officials. He generously gave [expensive] gifts to everyone, and he declared that in all the provinces there would be a holiday, [a time when people did not have to pay taxes].
Then the king held a great banquet, Esther’s banquet, for all his officials and servants. He proclaimed a tax holiday in the provinces and gave gifts worthy of the king’s bounty.
19 Later all those women who had spent a night with the king were gathered together again. By that time Mordecai had become an official at the palace.
When the virgins were assembled a second time, Mordecai was sitting at the king’s gate.
20 But Esther still did not tell anyone that she was a Jew. She continued to do what Mordecai had told her to do.
Esther still had not revealed her lineage or her people, just as Mordecai had instructed. She obeyed Mordecai’s command, as she had done under his care.
21 One day when Mordecai was doing his work in the palace, two of the king’s officials were there. Their names were Bigthana and Teresh. They were the guards who stood outside the king’s own rooms. They became angry [with the king], and they were planning how they could assassinate/kill him.
In those days, while Mordecai was sitting at the king’s gate, Bigthan and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs who guarded the entrance, grew angry and conspired to assassinate King Xerxes.
22 But Mordecai heard about what they were planning, and he told that to Queen Esther. Then she told the king what Mordecai had found out.
When Mordecai learned of the plot, he reported it to Queen Esther, and she informed the king on Mordecai’s behalf.
23 The king investigated and found out that Mordecai’s report was true. So the king ordered that those two men be hanged. When that was done, (an official wrote a report/a report was written) about it in a book called ‘The book that records what happened while Xerxes was king’.
After the report had been investigated and verified, both officials were hanged on the gallows. And all this was recorded in the Book of the Chronicles in the presence of the king.
