Esther 2:1–10:3
2 After these things, when the anger of King Ahasuerus subsided, he remembered Vashti and what she had done and what had been decreed against her. 2 And the king’s servants attending him said, “Let them seek attractive young virgins for the king. 3 Let the king appoint chief officers in all the provinces of his kingdom, and let them gather every attractive young virgin to the ⌊harem⌋a in the citadel of Susa ⌊under the care of⌋b Hegai, the king’s eunuch, who is in charge of the women; and let him give them their beauty treatment. 4 And let the young woman ⌊who is pleasing⌋c in the king’s eyes become queen in place of Vashti.” The thing was good in the king’s eyes, and he acted accordingly.
5 There was a Jew in the citadel of Susa whose name was Mordecai son of Jair, son of Shimei, son of Kish, a Benjaminite, 6 who was deportedd from Jerusalem with the exilese who were deportedf with Jeconiahg the king of Judah, whom King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had deported.h 7 Hei was raising Hadassah, that is Esther, his uncle’s daughter,j for she did not have a father or a mother; the young woman had a beautiful figure and was very attractive. When her father and mother died, Mordecai had taken her as his daughter. 8 And it happened, at the proclaiming of the edict of the king and his law, when many young women were being gathered to the citadel of Susa ⌊under Hegai’s care⌋,k Esther was taken to the ⌊king’s palace⌋l ⌊under the care of⌋m Hegai who was in charge of the women. 9 ⌊The young woman pleased him⌋n and she won favor in his presence, and he quickly provided for her beauty treatment and her portion of food, with seven chosen maids to give to her from the ⌊king’s palace⌋,o and he advanced her and her maids to the best part of the ⌊harem⌋.p 10 Esther did not disclose her people and her family because Mordecai had charged her that she must not tell. 11 And every day Mordecai would walk up and down in front of the courtyard of the ⌊harem⌋q to learn ⌊how Esther was doing⌋.r
12 When the turn came for each girl to go to King Ahasuerus, after the end of twelve months of being under the regulations of the women—for the days of their beauty treatments had to be filled, six months with the oil of myrrh and six months with perfumes and women’s cosmetics—13 in this way, the girl goes to the king and all that she asks is given to her ⌊to take⌋s with her from the ⌊harem⌋t to the ⌊king’s palace⌋.u 14 In the evening she would go and in the morning she would return to the ⌊second harem⌋v ⌊under the care of⌋w Shaashgaz, the king’s eunuch in charge of the concubines. She would not go back to the king unless the king delighted in her and she was called by name.
15 When the turn came near for Esther daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her as a daughter, to go to the king, she did not ask anything except what Hegai the eunuch of the king who was in charge of the women, advised. And Esther carried favor in the eyes of everyone that saw her. 16 Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus, to his ⌊palace⌋,x in the tenth month that is Tebeth in the seventh year of his reign. 17 And the king loved Esther more than all the women, and she won his favor and loyalty more than all the virgins, so he put a ⌊royal crown⌋y on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti. 18 And the king gave a great banquet, Esther’s banquet, for all his officials and servants. And he granted a tax amnestyz to the provinces and he gave gifts with royal liberality.
19 When the virgins were gathered a second time, Mordecai was sitting at the gate of the king. 20 Esther had not made known her family and her people, just as Mordecai had instructed her; for Esther ⌊did what Mordecai told her⌋,a just as when she was brought up by him. 21 In those days Mordecai was sitting at the gate of the king. Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs from the keepers of the threshold, became angry and they conspired ⌊to assassinate⌋b King Ahasuerus. 22 And the matter became known to Mordecai and he told it to Queen Esther, and Esther told it to the king in the name of Mordecai. 23 And the matter was investigated and found to be so; and the two of them were hanged on the gallows, and it was written in the scroll of the events of the days before the presence of the king.
3 After these things King Ahasuerus promoted Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, and he exalted him and set ⌊his position⌋a above all the officials who were with him. 2 And all of the king’s servants who were at the gate of the king were kneeling and bowing down to Haman; for so the king had commanded concerning him, but Mordecai did not kneel and bow down. 3 And the king’s servants who were at the gate of the king said to Mordecai, “Why are you transgressing the command of the king?” 4 They spoke to him day after day, but he did not listen to them, and they informed Haman to see if ⌊Mordecai’s resolve would prevail⌋;b for he had told them that he was a Jew. 5 And Haman saw that Mordecai was not kneeling and bowing down to him, and he was filled with wrath. 6 But ⌊he considered it beneath him⌋c to lay hands on Mordecai only, for they told him of Mordecai’s people, and Haman sought to destroy all the Jews, the people of Mordecai, who were in the kingdom of Ahasuerus.
7 In the first month, that is, the month of Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Ahasurus, he cast pur—that is, the lot—before the presence of Haman ⌊for the day and for the month⌋,d untile the twelfth month, that is, the month of Adar. 8 And Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered and separated among the peoples in all of the provinces of your kingdom; their laws are different from every other people, and they do not ⌊observe⌋f the laws of the king; it is not appropriate for the king to tolerate them. 9 If it pleases the king, let a decree be issued to destroy them, and I will payg ten thousand talentsh of silver to those who do the job, to bring to the treasury of the king.” 10 So the king removed his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews. 11 And the king said to Haman, “The money is given to you and to the people to do with it ⌊as you see fit⌋.i
12 And the king’s secretaries were called in the first month on the thirteenth day, and a decree was issued, according to all that Haman commanded, to the satraps of the king and to the governors who were over all the provinces, and to the officials of all the people, to each province according to its own script and to all people according to their own language; it was written in the name of King Ahasuerus and was sealed with the king’s ring. 13 Letters were sent by couriersj to all the provinces of the king to destroy, to kill, and to annihilate all the Jews, ⌊both young and old⌋,k women and children, on one day, the thirteenth day of the month, that is Adar, and to plunder their goods. 14 A copy of the edict was presented as law in every province making it known to all the people to be ready for that day. 15 The couriers went out quickly by order of the king, and the law was issued in the citadel of Susa. The king and Haman sat down to drink; and the city of Susa was bewildered.l
Mordecai Tells Esther of Haman’s Plot
4 Mordecai learned all that had been done and he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes. And he went through the middle of the city and cried out a loud and bitter cry; 2 he went up to the entrance of the gate of the king, for he could not go to the gate of the king in sackcloth. 3 In every province each place where the king’s edict and his law came, there was great mourning for the Jews with fasting, crying, wailing, and sackcloth; and ashes were spread out as a bed for them.
4 And Esther’s maids and her eunuchs came and they told her, and the queen was deeply distressed; she sent garments to clothe Mordecai so that he might remove his sackcloth—but he did not accept them. 5 Then Esther called Hathach from the king’s eunuchs ⌊who regularly attended to her⌋,a and she ordered him to go to Mordecai to learn what was happening and why. 6 So Hathach went out to Mordecai, to the public square of the city, which was in front of the gate of the king, 7 and Mordecai told him all that had happened to him, and the exact amount of money that Haman has promised to pay to the treasury of the king for the destruction of the Jews. 8 And he gave him a copy of the edict of the law that had been issued in Susa for their destruction to show Esther, and to inform her, and to charge her to go to the king and make supplication to him and entreat before him for her people.
9 And Hathach went back and told Esther the words of Mordecai. 10 And Esther spoke to Hathach and ⌊she gave him a message for Mordecai⌋:b 11 “All the king’s servants and the people of the king’s provinces know that if any man or woman who goes to the king to the inner courtyard, who is not called, he has one law, to be killed, except if the king extends to him the gold scepter so that he may live. I have not been called to come to the king ⌊for thirty days⌋.”c 12 And they told Mordecai the words of Esther. 13 Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther: “Do not think that your life will be saved in the palace of the king more than all the Jews. 14 For if indeed you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, and you and the family of your father will perish. Who knows? Perhaps you have come to a royal position for a time such as this.” 15 Esther replied to Mordecai: 16 “Go, gather all the Jews that are found in Susa and fast for me; do not eat or drink for three days, both night and day. I and my young girls will fast likewise, and then I will go to the king, which is not according to the law; if I perish, I perish. 17 And Mordecai went away and he did everything that Esther commanded him.
5 And it happened, on the …