﻿Esther.
Chapter 2.
After these things, when King Ahasuerus's anger had subsided, he remembered Vashti, what she had done, and what had been decreed against her. 
Then the king's young attendants who served him said, “Let beautiful young virgins be sought for the king. 
Let the king appoint overseers in all the provinces of his kingdom to gather all the beautiful young virgins to the citadel of Susa, to the women's quarters, under the care of Hege, the king's eunuch who keeps the women. Let them be given their beauty treatments. 
Then let the young woman who pleases the king become queen in place of Vashti.” The proposal pleased the king, and he did so. 
There was a Jew in the citadel of Susa named Mordecai son of Jair, son of Shimei, son of Kish, a Benjaminite, 
who had been exiled from Jerusalem with the exiles deported with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away. 
He was raising Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle's daughter, for she had neither father nor mother. The young woman had a beautiful figure and was lovely to look at. When her father and mother died, Mordecai had taken her as his own daughter. 
When the king's command and decree became known and many young women were gathered to the citadel of Susa under Hegai's care, Esther too was taken to the king's house, into the care of Hegai, the keeper of the women. 
The young woman pleased him and won his favor. He quickly provided her beauty treatments and food portions, along with the seven attendants chosen for her from the king's house. He moved her and her attendants to the best place in the women's quarters. 
Esther had not made known her people or her family background, for Mordecai had commanded her not to make them known. 
Every day Mordecai walked in front of the courtyard of the women's quarters to learn how Esther was and what was happening to her. 
Each young woman's turn to go to King Ahasuerus came after she had completed twelve months under the regulations for the women. This was the full course of their beauty treatments: six months with oil of myrrh and six months with perfumes and women's cosmetics. 
This was how the young woman went to the king: she was given whatever she asked for to take with her from the women's quarters to the king's house. 
In the evening she went, and in the morning she returned to the second women's quarters, under the care of Shaashgaz, the king's eunuch who kept the concubines. She did not go to the king again unless he delighted in her and she was called by name. 
When Esther's turn came to go to the king, she asked for nothing except what Hegai, the king's eunuch who kept the women, advised. She was the daughter of Abihail, Mordecai's uncle, and Mordecai had taken her as his own daughter. Esther won favor in the eyes of all who saw her. 
Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus in his royal palace in the tenth month, the month of Tevet, in the seventh year of his reign. 
The king loved Esther more than all the other women, and she won his grace and favor more than all the other virgins. He placed the royal crown on her head and made her queen in place of Vashti. 
Then the king held a great banquet for all his officials and servants—Esther's banquet. He granted relief to the provinces and gave gifts with royal generosity. 
When the virgins were gathered a second time, Mordecai was sitting at the king's gate. 
Esther was not making known her family background or her people, as Mordecai had commanded her. She continued to obey Mordecai's instructions as she had when he was raising her. 
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, became angry and plotted to lay hands on King Ahasuerus. 
Mordecai learned of the matter and told Queen Esther, and Esther reported it to the king in Mordecai's name. 
The matter was investigated and found to be true, and both men were hanged on a wooden stake. It was written in the book of the chronicles in the king's presence. 
