ES-2:1  After these things, when the wrath of king Ahasuerus was

appeased, he

remembered Vashti, and what she had done, and what was decreed

against her.

ES-2:2  Then said the king's servants that ministered unto him,

Let there be fair

young virgins sought for the king:

ES-2:3  And let the king appoint officers in all the provinces

of his kingdom, that

they may gather together all the fair young virgins unto Shushan

the palace, to the

house of the women, unto the custody of Hege the king's

chamberlain, keeper of the

women; and let their things for purification be given [them]:

ES-2:4  And let the maiden which pleaseth the king be queen

instead of Vashti. And

the thing pleased the king; and he did so.

ES-2:5  [Now] in Shushan the palace there was a certain Jew,

whose name [was]

Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a

Benjamite;

ES-2:6  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.

ES-2:7  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; whom Mordecai,

when her father and mother were dead, took for his own daughter.

ES-2:8  So it came to pass, when the king's commandment and his

decree was heard,

and when many maidens were gathered together unto Shushan the

palace, to the custody

of Hegai, that Esther was brought also unto the king's house, to

the custody of

Hegai, keeper of the women.

ES-2:9  And the maiden pleased him, and she obtained kindness of

him; and he

speedily gave her her things for purification, with such things

as belonged to her,

and seven maidens, [which were] meet to be given her, out of the

king's house: and

he preferred her and her maids unto the best [place] of the

house of the women.

ES-2:10  Esther had not showed her people nor her kindred: for

Mordecai had charged

her that she should not show [it].

ES-2:11  And Mordecai walked every day before the court of the

women's house, to

know how Esther did, and what should become of her.

ES-2:12  Now when every maid's turn was come to go in to king

Ahasuerus, after that

she had been twelve months, according to the manner of the women,

 (for so were the

days of their purifications accomplished, [to wit], six months

with oil of myrrh,

and six months with sweet odours, and with [other] things for

the purifying of the

women;)

ES-2:13  Then thus came [every] maiden unto the king; whatsoever

she desired was

given her to go with her out of the house of the women unto the

king's house.

ES-2:14  In the evening she went, and on the morrow she returned

into the second

house of the women, to the custody of Shaashgaz, the king's

chamberlain, which kept

the concubines: she came in unto the king no more, except the

king delighted in her,

and that she were called by name.

ES-2:15  Now when the turn of Esther, the daughter of Abihail

the uncle of Mordecai,

who had taken her for his daughter, was come to go in unto the

king, she required

nothing but what Hegai the king's chamberlain, the keeper of the

women, appointed.

And Esther obtained favour in the sight of all them that looked

upon her.

ES-2:16  So Esther was taken unto king Ahasuerus into his house

royal in the tenth

month, which [is] the month Tebeth, in the seventh year of his

reign.

ES-2:17  And the king loved Esther above all the women, and she

obtained grace and

favour in his sight more than all the virgins; so that he set

the royal crown upon

her head, and made her queen instead of Vashti.

ES-2:18  Then the king made a great feast unto all his princes

and his servants,

[even] Esther's feast; and he made a release to the provinces,

and gave gifts,

according to the state of the king.

ES-2:19  And when the virgins were gathered together the second

time, then Mordecai

sat in the king's gate.

ES-2:20  Esther had not [yet] showed her kindred nor her people;

as Mordecai had

charged her: for Esther did the commandment of Mordecai, like as

when she was

brought up with him.

ES-2:21  In those days, while Mordecai sat in the king's gate,

two of the king's

chamberlains, Bigthan and Teresh, of those which kept the door,

were wroth, and

sought to lay hand on the king Ahasuerus.

ES-2:22  And the thing was known to Mordecai, who told [it] unto

Esther the queen;

and Esther certified the king [thereof] in Mordecai's name.

ES-2:23  And when inquisition was made of the matter, it was

found out; therefore

they were both hanged on a tree: and it was written in the book

of the chronicles

before the king.

~~~~~~