17 For this deed of the queen shall become known to all women, so that they shall look with contempt upon their husbands, when it shall be reported, The king Ahasuerus commanded Vashti the queen to be brought in before him, but she came not. 18 Likewise shall the ladies of Persia and Media say this day to all the king’s princes, who have heard of the deed of the queen. Thus shall there arise too much contempt and wrath. 19 If it pleaseth the king, let a royal commandment go from him, and let it be written among the laws of the Persians and the Medes, that it be not altered, That Vashti come no more before king Ahasuerus; and let the king give her royal estate to another that is better than she. [1] [2] [3] [4] 20 And when the king’s decree which he shall make shall be proclaimed throughout all his empire, (for it is great,) all the wives shall give to their husbands honour, both to great and small. 21 And the saying pleased the king and the princes; and the king did according to the word of Memucan: [5] 22 For he sent letters into all the king’s provinces, into every province according to the writing of it, and to every people after their language, that every man should bear rule in his own house, and that it should be proclaimed in the language of every people. [6]
CHAP. 2.
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.
2 Then said the king’s servants that ministered to him, Let there be fair young virgins sought for the king:
3 And let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of his kingdom, that they may gather all the fair young virgins to Shushan the palace, to the house of the women, into the custody of Hege the king’s chamberlain, keeper of the women; and let their things for purification be given them : [7] [8]
4 And let the maiden who pleaseth the king be queen instead of Vashti. And the thing pleased the king; and he did so.
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;
6 Who had been carried away from Jerusalem with the captives who had been carried away with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away. [9]
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. [10] [11]
8 So it came to pass, when the king’s commandment and his decree were heard, and when many maidens were gathered at Shushan the palace, to the custody of Hegai, that Esther was brought also to the king’s house, to the custody of Hegai, keeper of the women.
9 And the maiden pleased him, and she obtained kindness from him; and he speedily gave her her things for purification, with such things as belonged to her, and seven choice maidens, to be given her, out of the king’s house: and he preferred her and her maids to the best place of the house of the women. [12] [13]
10 Esther had not revealed her people nor her kindred: for Mordecai had charged her that she should not make it known.
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. [14]
12 Now when every maid’s turn had come to go in to king Ahasuerus, after that she had been twelve months, according to the law for the women, (for so were the days of their purifications accomplished, that is, six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with sweet odours, and with other things for the purifying of the women;)
13 Then thus came every maiden to the king; whatever she desired was given her to go with her out of the house of the women to the king’s house.
14 In the evening she went, and on the next morning she returned into the second house of the women, to the custody of Shaashgaz, the king’s chamberlain, who kept the concubines: she came in to the king no more, except that the king delighted in her, and she was called by name.
15 Now when the turn of Esther, the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her for his daughter, had come to go in to 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.
16 So Esther was taken to king Ahasuerus into his house royal in the tenth month, which is the month Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign.
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. [15] [16]
18 Then the king made a great feast to all his princes and his servants, even Esther’s feast; and he made a release to the provinces, and gave gifts, according to the bounty of the king. [17]
19 And when the virgins were gathered together
- ↑ If it...: Heb. If it be good with the king
- ↑ unto...: Heb. unto her companion
- ↑ from him: Heb. from before him
- ↑ be not...: Heb. pass not away
- ↑ pleased...: Heb. was good in the eyes of the king
- ↑ that it...: Heb. that one should publish it according to the language of his people
- ↑ unto the...: Heb. unto the hand
- ↑ Hege: also called, Hegai
- ↑ Jeconiah: also called, Jehoiachin
- ↑ brought...: Heb. nourished
- ↑ fair...: Heb. fair of form, and good of countenance
- ↑ such...: Heb. her portions
- ↑ preferred: Heb. changed
- ↑ to know...: Heb. to know the peace
- ↑ favour: or, kindness
- ↑ in his...: Heb. before him
- ↑ release: Heb. rest
