¹After these things, when King Ahasuerus's anger had abated, he remembered Vashti and what she had done, and what had been decreed against her. ²Then the king's servants who ministered to him said, “Let virgin girls of fair appearance be sought for the king. ³And let the king appoint overseers in all the provinces of his kingdom, and let them gather every virgin girl of fair appearance, to the citadel of Shushan, to the women's quarters, under the care of Hegai the king's eunuch who is keeper of the women. And let them be given their toiletries for purification. ⁴And let the girl who pleases the king reign instead of Vashti.” And the matter pleased the king, and he did so. ⁵There was a certain Jew in the citadel of Shushan, and his name was Mordecai the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjaminite, ⁶who had been deported from Jerusalem with the deportees who were deported with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had deported. ⁷And he brought up Hadassah, that is Esther, the daughter of his uncle, for she had no father or mother. And the girl was beautiful in figure and fair in appearance, and when her father and mother died, Mordecai took charge of her as a daughter. ⁸And it came to pass, when the matter of the king and his decree were heard, and when many girls were gathered in the citadel of Shushan, in the care of Hegai, that Esther was taken to the king's house under the care of Hegai, the keeper of the women. ⁹And the girl pleased the king, and she won his favour, and he hastened to give her toiletries for her purification, and her personal goods, and to give her seven distinguished servant-girls from the king's house. And he transferred her and her servant-girls to the best place in the women's quarters. ¹⁰Esther did not declare her nationality or her race, for Mordecai had charged her not to declare them. ¹¹And every day Mordecai walked around in front of the court of the women's quarters, in order to know how Esther was and what was happening to her. ¹²And when the turn came for each girl to go to King Ahasuerus at the end of her twelve months, as was the custom of women, for so were the days of their purification fulfilled – six months with oil of myrrh and six months with fragrances and toiletries for purification of women – ¹³the girl would then go to the king. Everything she said would be given to her to go with her from the women's quarters to the king's house. ¹⁴In the evening she would go, and in the morning she would return to the second women's quarters, in the care of Shaashgaz the king's eunuch who kept the concubines. She would not go again to the king unless the king was pleased with her, and she was called by name. ¹⁵And when the turn came for Esther, the daughter of Abihail, Mordecai's uncle, whom he had taken as a daughter, to go to the king, she did not request anything except what Hegai the king's eunuch, the keeper of the women, had said. And Esther obtained favour in the eyes of all who beheld her. ¹⁶And Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus, to his royal house, in the tenth month – that is the month of Tevet – in the seventh year of his reign. ¹⁷And the king loved Esther more than all the other women, and she obtained more grace and favour in his presence than all the other virgins, and he placed the crown of the kingdom on her head, and he made her queen instead of Vashti. ¹⁸And the king held a great banquet for all his officials and servants, the banquet of Esther, and he made a holiday for the provinces, and he gave a gift according to the means of the king. ¹⁹And while the virgins were being collected the second time, Mordecai was sitting at the king's gate. ²⁰Esther did not declare her race or her nationality, as Mordecai had charged her, and Esther carried out Mordecai's instruction, as when she was being brought up by him. ²¹In those days while Mordecai was sitting at the king's gate, Bigthan and Teresh, two of the king's eunuchs who guarded the threshold, became angry, and they tried to lay their hands on King Ahasuerus. ²²And the matter became known to Mordecai, and he told Esther the queen, and Esther told the king in Mordecai's name. ²³And the matter was investigated, and it was exposed, and the two of them were hanged on gallows, and it was written in the chronicles in the king's presence.