Esther 2

1And after these words the wrath of the king subsided, and he no longer mentioned Vashti, remembering either what she had said or how he had condemned her.

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2Then the king's servants who attended him said, 'Let beautiful young virgins be sought for the king,

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3and let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of his kingdom, that they may gather all the beautiful young virgins to the city of Susa into the women's quarters, under the custody of the king's eunuch, custodian of the women. And let beauty preparations be given them.

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4And let the young woman who pleases the king be queen instead of Vashti.' This thing pleased the king, and he did so.

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5Now there was a Jewish man in the city of Susa whose name was Mordecai, son of Jair, son of Shimei, son of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin,

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6who was an exile from Jerusalem, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had taken captive.

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7He had raised the daughter of Abihail, his father's brother, and her name was Esther; and when her parents died, he brought her up to be his wife, and she was beautiful.

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8So when the king's ordinance was heard, many young maidens were gathered together in the city of Susa, under the custody of Hegai, and Esther was brought to Hegai, the custodian of the women.

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9And the young woman pleased him and found favor in his sight. He hastened to give beauty treatments to her, and her portion, and the seven young maidens appointed to her from the palace. He himself treated her and her maidservants well in the women's quarters.

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10But Esther did not reveal her people or her family, for Mordecai charged her not to reveal it.

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11And every day Mordecai walked about the courtyard of the women to see what would happen to Esther.

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12Now this was the time for a young woman to go in to the king, after she had completed twelve months, for thus are the days of preparation fulfilled: six months being anointed with oil of myrrh, and six months with perfumes and beauty treatments for women.

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13After this, she goes to the king, and she shall be allowed to bring whatever she asks with her from the women's quarters into the royal palace.

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14She enters in the evening, and towards daybreak she departs quickly to the second women's quarters, where Shaashgaz, the king's eunuch, is the guardian of the women, and she does not go in to the king again unless she should be called by name.

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15Now when the time came for Esther the daughter of Abihail, the uncle of Mordecai, to go in to the king, she neglected nothing which the king's eunuch, the guardian of the women, commanded. Now Esther obtained favor in the sight of all who saw her.

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16So Esther went in to King Artaxerxes in the tenth month, which is Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign.

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17And the king loved Esther, and she found favor beyond all the other virgins, and he placed the queen's crown on her.

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18And the king gave a banquet for all his friends and nobles for seven days, and he exalted the marriage feast of Esther and granted a release to those under his reign.

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19And Mordecai was serving in the courtyard.

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20Now Esther had not revealed her heritage, just as Mordecai commanded her when she was with him, which is to fear God and to keep His commandments, and Esther did not change her manner of life.

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21Now two of the king's eunuchs, the chiefs of the bodyguards, were furious because Mordecai had been promoted, and they sought to kill King Artaxerxes.

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22And the matter was made known to Mordecai, and he informed Esther, and she made the details of the plot known to the king.

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23The king examined the two eunuchs and hanged them. The king then ordered that a record remembering the good will of Mordecai be placed in the royal library.

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