Esther 2:12-23 ▼

12 And in the drawing near of the turn of each young woman to come in to King Ahasuerus, at the end of there being to her—according to the law of the women—twelve months, for so they fulfill the days of their purifications; six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with perfumes, and with the purifications of women,

13 and with this the young woman has come in to the king, all that she says is given to her to go in with her out of the house of the women to the house of the king;

14 in the evening she has gone in, and in the morning she has turned back to the second house of the women, to the hand of Shaashgaz eunuch of the king, keeper of the concubines; she does not come in anymore to the king except the king has delighted in her, and she has been called by name.

15 And in the drawing near of the turn of Esther—daughter of Abihail, uncle of Mordecai, whom he had taken to himself for a daughter—to come in to the king, she has not sought a thing except that which Hegai eunuch of the king, keeper of the women, says, and Esther is receiving grace in the eyes of all seeing her.

16 And Esther is taken to King Ahasuerus, to his royal house, in the tenth month—it [is] the month of Tebeth—in the seventh year of his reign,

17 and the king loves Esther above all the women, and she receives grace and kindness before him above all the virgins, and he sets a royal crown on her head, and causes her to reign instead of Vashti,

18 and the king makes a great banquet to all his heads and his servants—the banquet of Esther—and has made a release to the provinces, and gives gifts as a memorial of the king.

19 And in the virgins being gathered a second time, then Mordecai is sitting in the gate of the king;

20 Esther is not declaring her family and her people, as Mordecai has laid a charge on her, and the saying of Mordecai Esther is doing as when she was truly with him.

21 In those days, when Mordecai is sitting in the gate of the king, has Bigthan been angry, and Teresh (two of the eunuchs of the king, the keepers of the threshold), and they seek to put forth a hand on King Ahasuerus,

22 and the thing is known to Mordecai, and he declares [it] to Esther the queen, and Esther speaks to the king in the name of Mordecai,

23 and the thing is sought out, and found, and both of them are hanged on a tree, and it is written in the scroll of the Chronicles before the king.