Esther 2

1 Some time later, when the wrath of King Ahasuerus had subsided, he remembered what Vashti had done and what had been decreed against her.

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].

2 Then the king’s servants who waited upon him said, ‘Let beautiful young virgins be sought for the king,

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.

3 and let the king appoint commissioners to all the provinces of his kingdom to gather them all to Susa the royal residence. Let them be brought into the women’s quarters under the custody of Hegai, the king’s eunuch, who has charge of the women. Then give them what is needed to make them beautiful,

[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.

4 and let the girl who pleases the king be queen instead of Vashti.’ The proposal pleased the king so he put it into action.

Then the woman who pleases you most can become queen instead of Vashti.” The king liked what they suggested, so he did it.

5 In Susa the royal residence lived a Jew named Mordecai. He was son of Jair, son of Shimei, son of Kish, a Benjamite.

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.

6 (Kish had been carried away from Jerusalem with the exiles who were deported with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon took captive.)

[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.

7 Mordecai had adopted Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle’s daughter, since she had neither father nor mother. The girl was shapely and beautiful; and after her father and mother died, Mordecai raised her as if she was his own daughter.

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.

8 When the king’s command and decree were known, many girls were gathered together to Susa the capital under the custody of Hegai. Esther was also taken into the king’s palace and placed under the custody of Hegai, who had charge of the women.

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.

9 The girl pleased him and gained his favour, so that he quickly gave her the cosmetics she needed to enhance her beauty and her allowance of food and the seven maids selected from the king’s household. He also transferred her and her maids to the best place in the harem.

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.

10 Esther had not revealed her people nor her family background because Mordecai had ordered her not to.

Esther did not tell anyone that she was a Jew, because Mordecai had told her not to tell anyone.

11 Every day Mordecai would to walk in front of the courtyard of the harem and ask after Esther’s health and what was happening to her.

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.

12 The girls were prepared for meeting King Ahasuerus for twelve months: six months being treated with oil of myrrh and six months with perfumes and cosmetics. After the twelve months,

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.

13 each girl went in to the king. She was allowed to take with her whatever she wished from the women’s quarters,

Then, when one of these women [was summoned to] go to the king, she was allowed to wear whatever clothes and jewelry she chose.

14 and would enter the palace in the evening and return the next morning to another part of the harem under the care of the king’s eunuch Shaashgaz who was in charge of concubines. She would not go to the king again unless he desired her and summoned her by name.

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.

15 When it was the turn of Esther (the girl adopted by Mordecai, daughter of his uncle Abihail) to go in to the king, she only took with her those things that Hegai, the king’s eunuch in charge of the women, had advised her to take. Esther was liked by all who saw her.

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.

16 Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus in the royal palace in the tenth month, the month of Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign.

17 And the king loved her more than all the other women, and she became his favourite and won his affection. He placed the royal diadem on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti.

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.

18 Then the king gave a great feast to all his officials and courtiers in honour of Esther, and he remitted the taxes of the provinces and distributed gifts with royal liberality.

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].

19 All the time the virgins were assembled again, Mordecai was sitting as an offical at the king’s gate.

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.

20 Esther had not revealed her people or family background because she still obeyed him as she had when he was bringing her up.

But Esther still did not tell anyone that she was a Jew. She continued to do what Mordecai had told her to do.

21 In those days while Mordecai was sitting in the king’s gate, two of the royal court attendants, Bigthan and Teresh, who guarded the entrance of the palace, became enraged and attempted to kill King Ahasuerus.

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.

22 But Mordecai learned of the conspiracy and disclosed it to Queen Esther, and she told the king on Mordecai’s behalf.

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.

23 When the affair was investigated and the facts discovered, the conspirators were both hanged on the gallows. The incident was recorded in the presence of the king in the daily record of events.

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’.