1 Some time later, when King Ahasuerus's anger had cooled, he remembered Vashti, what she had done, and what had been decreed against her.
2 Then the king's personal attendants proposed, "Let a search be made for beautiful young virgins for the king.
3 Let the king appoint commissioners in every province of his realm to bring all the beautiful young virgins to the harem in Susa the citadel. Let them be placed under the care of Hegai, the king's eunuch in charge of the women, and let them be given their beauty treatments.
4 And let the young woman who pleases the king become queen in place of Vashti." The king liked this advice and acted on it.
5 In Susa the citadel there lived a Jew named Mordecai son of Jair, son of Shimei, son of Kish, a Benjaminite,
6 who had been taken into exile from Jerusalem among those deported with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried into exile.
7 Mordecai had raised Hadassah, also called Esther, his uncle's daughter, because she had no father or mother. The young woman had a lovely figure and was beautiful, and when her father and mother died, Mordecai had taken her as his own daughter.
8 When the king's order and decree had been proclaimed, many young women were brought to Susa the citadel and placed under Hegai's care. Esther too was taken to the king's palace and put in the care of Hegai, who was in charge of the women.
9 The young woman pleased him and gained his favor. He promptly gave her the beauty treatments and her special food, assigned her seven select attendants from the king's palace, and moved her and her attendants to the best quarters in the harem.
10 Esther had not revealed her people or her family background, because Mordecai had ordered her not to reveal it.
11 Each day Mordecai walked back and forth in front of the courtyard of the harem to find out how Esther was doing and what was happening to her.
12 Before each young woman's turn came to go in to King Ahasuerus, she had to complete twelve months of the beauty treatment prescribed for the women: six months with oil of myrrh and six months with spices and cosmetics.
13 Then the young woman would go in to the king this way: she was given whatever she asked for to take with her from the harem to the king's palace.
14 She would go in at evening and in the morning return to a second harem under the care of Shaashgaz, the king's eunuch in charge of the concubines. She would not go in to the king again unless he was pleased with her and summoned her by name.
15 When the turn came for Esther, the daughter of Abihail, Mordecai's uncle, who had adopted her as his daughter, to go in to the king, she asked for nothing except what Hegai, the king's eunuch in charge of the women, suggested. And Esther gained the favor of everyone who saw her.
16 Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus in his royal palace in the tenth month, the month of Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign.
17 The king loved Esther more than all the other women, and she won his favor and approval more than all the other virgins. So he placed the royal crown on her head and made her queen in place of Vashti.
18 The king then held a great feast, Esther's feast, for all his officials and servants. He proclaimed a holiday throughout the provinces and gave gifts with royal generosity.
19 When the virgins were assembled a second time, Mordecai was sitting at the king's gate.
20 Esther still had not revealed her family background or her people, just as Mordecai had ordered her, for Esther continued to follow Mordecai's instructions as she had done when he was raising her.
21 During those days, while Mordecai was sitting at the king's gate, Bigthan and Teresh, two of the king's eunuchs who guarded the entrance, grew angry and plotted to assassinate King Ahasuerus.
22 Mordecai learned of the plot and told Queen Esther, and Esther reported it to the king, giving Mordecai the credit.
23 The report was investigated and found to be true, and the two men were hanged on a gallows. This was recorded in the book of the chronicles in the king's presence.