Esther 2:1-9 ▼

1 AFTER these things, when the wrath of King Akhshirash was appeased, he remembered Vashti the queen and what she had done and what was decreed against her.

2 Then the king's servants and his ministers said to him, Let there be beautiful young virgins sought for the king;

3 And let the king appoint officers in all the provinces, that they may gather together all the beautiful young virgins to the house of the women, to the custody of Hegai the eunuch, keeper of women; and let their things for purification be given them;

4 And let the maiden who pleases the king be queen instead of Vashti. And the thing pleased the king; and he did so.

5 Now there was a certain Jew in Shushan the palace, whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite;

6 Who had been carried away from Jerusalem with the captivity which had been carried away with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away.

7 And he brought up Hadassah, that is Esther, his uncle's daughter; for she had neither father nor mother, and the maid was fair and beautiful; and when her father and mother died, Mordecai took her for his own daughter.

8 So when the king's commandment and his decree were heard, and when many virgins were gathered together in Shushan the palace in the custody of Hegai, the eunuch, that Esther was brought also to the king's house to the custody of Hegai, the keeper of the women.

9 And the maiden pleased him, and she obtained favor of him; and he speedily gave her things for purification, such things which were her portion, and seven maidens who were worthy to be given her from the king's house; and he preferred her and her maidens much more than all the other women.