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The Blue Letter Bible

Esther 2 :: English Standard Version (ESV)

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Esther Chosen Queen

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Unchecked Copy Box Est 2:1

Unchecked Copy BoxEst 2:1 - After these things, when the anger of King Ahasuerus had abated, he remembered Vashti and what she had done and what had been decreed against her.

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Unchecked Copy Box Est 2:2

Unchecked Copy BoxEst 2:2 - Then the king’s young men who attended him said, “Let beautiful young virgins be sought out for the king.

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Unchecked Copy Box Est 2:3

Unchecked Copy BoxEst 2:3 - And let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of his kingdom to gather all the beautiful young virgins to the harem in Susa the citadel, under custody of Hegai, the king’s eunuch, who is in charge of the women. Let their cosmetics be given them.

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Unchecked Copy Box Est 2:4

Unchecked Copy BoxEst 2:4 - And let the young woman who pleases the king[fn] be queen instead of Vashti.” This pleased the king, and he did so.

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Unchecked Copy Box Est 2:5

Unchecked Copy BoxEst 2:5 - Now there was a Jew in Susa the citadel whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, son of Shimei, son of Kish, a Benjaminite,

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Unchecked Copy Box Est 2:6

Unchecked Copy BoxEst 2:6 - who had been carried away from Jerusalem among the captives carried away with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away.

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Unchecked Copy Box Est 2:7

Unchecked Copy BoxEst 2:7 - He was bringing up Hadassah, that is Esther, the daughter of his uncle, for she had neither father nor mother. The young woman had a beautiful figure and was lovely to look at, and when her father and her mother died, Mordecai took her as his own daughter.

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Unchecked Copy Box Est 2:8

Unchecked Copy BoxEst 2:8 - So when the king’s order and his edict were proclaimed, and when many young women were gathered in Susa the citadel in custody of Hegai, Esther also was taken into the king’s palace and put in custody of Hegai, who had charge of the women.

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Unchecked Copy Box Est 2:9

Unchecked Copy BoxEst 2:9 - And the young woman pleased him and won his favor. And he quickly provided her with her cosmetics and her portion of food, and with seven chosen young women from the king’s palace, and advanced her and her young women to the best place in the harem.

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Unchecked Copy Box Est 2:10

Unchecked Copy BoxEst 2:10 - Esther had not made known her people or kindred, for Mordecai had commanded her not to make it known.

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Unchecked Copy Box Est 2:11

Unchecked Copy BoxEst 2:11 - And every day Mordecai walked in front of the court of the harem to learn how Esther was and what was happening to her.

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Unchecked Copy Box Est 2:12

Unchecked Copy BoxEst 2:12 - Now when the turn came for each young woman to go in to King Ahasuerus, after being twelve months under the regulations for the women, since this was the regular period of their beautifying, six months with oil of myrrh and six months with spices and ointments for women—

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Unchecked Copy Box Est 2:13

Unchecked Copy BoxEst 2:13 - when the young woman went in to the king in this way, she was given whatever she desired to take with her from the harem to the king’s palace.

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Unchecked Copy Box Est 2:14

Unchecked Copy BoxEst 2:14 - In the evening she would go in, and in the morning she would return to the second harem in custody of Shaashgaz, the king’s eunuch, who was in charge of the concubines. She would not go in to the king again, unless the king delighted in her and she was summoned by name.

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Unchecked Copy Box Est 2:15

Unchecked Copy BoxEst 2:15 - When the turn came for Esther the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her as his own daughter, to go in to the king, she asked for nothing except what Hegai the king’s eunuch, who had charge of the women, advised. Now Esther was winning favor in the eyes of all who saw her.

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Unchecked Copy Box Est 2:16

Unchecked Copy BoxEst 2:16 - And when Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus, into his royal palace, in the tenth month, which is the month of Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign,

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Unchecked Copy Box Est 2:17

Unchecked Copy BoxEst 2:17 - the king loved Esther more than all the women, and she won grace and favor in his sight more than all the virgins, so that he set the royal crown[fn] on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti.

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Unchecked Copy Box Est 2:18

Unchecked Copy BoxEst 2:18 - Then the king gave a great feast for all his officials and servants; it was Esther’s feast. He also granted a remission of taxes to the provinces and gave gifts with royal generosity.

Mordecai Discovers a Plot

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Unchecked Copy Box Est 2:19

Unchecked Copy BoxEst 2:19 - Now when the virgins were gathered together the second time, Mordecai was sitting at the king’s gate.

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Unchecked Copy Box Est 2:20

Unchecked Copy BoxEst 2:20 - Esther had not made known her kindred or her people, as Mordecai had commanded her, for Esther obeyed Mordecai just as when she was brought up by him.

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Unchecked Copy Box Est 2:21

Unchecked Copy BoxEst 2:21 - In those days, as Mordecai was sitting at the king’s gate, Bigthan and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs, who guarded the threshold, became angry and sought to lay hands on King Ahasuerus.

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Unchecked Copy Box Est 2:22

Unchecked Copy BoxEst 2:22 - And this came to the knowledge of Mordecai, and he told it to Queen Esther, and Esther told the king in the name of Mordecai.

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Unchecked Copy Box Est 2:23

Unchecked Copy BoxEst 2:23 - When the affair was investigated and found to be so, the men were both hanged on the gallows.[fn] And it was recorded in the book of the chronicles in the presence of the king.
See the ESV Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).
ESV Footnotes
Hebrew who is good in the eyes of the king
Or headdress
Or wooden beam or stake; Hebrew tree or wood. This Persian execution practice involved affixing or impaling a person on a stake or pole (compare Ezra 6:11)
ESV

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001, 2007, 2011, 2016 by Crossway Books and Bibles, a Publishing Ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

See detailed copyright information.

For more information on this translation, see the ESV Preface.

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Esther Chapter 2 — Additional Translations:

King James Version New King James Version New Living Translation New International Version Christian Standard Bible New American Standard Bible 2020 New American Standard Bible 1995 Legacy Standard Bible Amplified Bible New English Translation Revised Standard Version American Standard Version Young's Literal Translation Darby Translation Webster's Bible Hebrew Names Version Latin Vulgate Westminster Leningrad Codex Septuagint Smith Van Dyck Arabic Bible Open New Arabic Version Brenton's English Septuagint Reina Valera 1909 Reina-Valera 1960 Bible in Basic English Chinese Traditional Union Espanol Moderno Korean Holy Bible Louis Segond German Luther Russian Synodal Translation Sagradas Escrituras