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The Blue Letter Bible

Esther 2 :: New International Version (NIV)

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Esther Made Queen

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Unchecked Copy Box Est 2:1

Unchecked Copy BoxEst 2:1 - Later when King Xerxes’ fury had subsided, he remembered Vashti and what she had done and what he had decreed about her.

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Unchecked Copy Box Est 2:2

Unchecked Copy BoxEst 2:2 - Then the king’s personal attendants proposed, “Let a search be made for beautiful young virgins for the king.

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Unchecked Copy Box Est 2:3

Unchecked Copy BoxEst 2:3 - Let the king appoint commissioners in every province of his realm to bring all these beautiful young women into the harem at the citadel of Susa. Let them be placed under the care of Hegai, the king’s eunuch, who is in charge of the women; and let beauty treatments be given to them.

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Unchecked Copy Box Est 2:4

Unchecked Copy BoxEst 2:4 - Then let the young woman who pleases the king be queen instead of Vashti.” This advice appealed to the king, and he followed it.

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Unchecked Copy Box Est 2:5

Unchecked Copy BoxEst 2:5 - Now there was in the citadel of Susa a Jew of the tribe of Benjamin, named Mordecai son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish,

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Unchecked Copy Box Est 2:6

Unchecked Copy BoxEst 2:6 - who had been carried into exile from Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, among those taken captive with Jehoiachin[fn] king of Judah.

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Unchecked Copy Box Est 2:7

Unchecked Copy BoxEst 2:7 - Mordecai had a cousin named Hadassah, whom he had brought up because she had neither father nor mother. This young woman, who was also known as Esther, had a lovely figure and was beautiful. Mordecai had taken her as his own daughter when her father and mother died.

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Unchecked Copy Box Est 2:8

Unchecked Copy BoxEst 2:8 - When the king’s order and edict had been proclaimed, many young women were brought to the citadel of Susa and put under the care of Hegai. Esther also was taken to the king’s palace and entrusted to Hegai, who had charge of the harem.

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Unchecked Copy Box Est 2:9

Unchecked Copy BoxEst 2:9 - She pleased him and won his favor. Immediately he provided her with her beauty treatments and special food. He assigned to her seven female attendants selected from the king’s palace and moved her and her attendants into the best place in the harem.

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Unchecked Copy Box Est 2:10

Unchecked Copy BoxEst 2:10 - Esther had not revealed her nationality and family background, because Mordecai had forbidden her to do so.

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Unchecked Copy Box Est 2:11

Unchecked Copy BoxEst 2:11 - Every day he walked back and forth near the courtyard of the harem to find out how Esther was and what was happening to her.

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Unchecked Copy Box Est 2:12

Unchecked Copy BoxEst 2:12 - Before a young woman’s turn came to go in to King Xerxes, she had to complete twelve months of beauty treatments prescribed for the women, six months with oil of myrrh and six with perfumes and cosmetics.

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Unchecked Copy Box Est 2:13

Unchecked Copy BoxEst 2:13 - And this is how she would go to the king: Anything she wanted was given her 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 there and in the morning return to another part of the harem to the care of Shaashgaz, the king’s eunuch who was in charge of the concubines. She would not return to the king unless he was pleased with her and summoned her by name.

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Unchecked Copy Box Est 2:15

Unchecked Copy BoxEst 2:15 - When the turn came for Esther (the young woman Mordecai had adopted, the daughter of his uncle Abihail) to go to the king, she asked for nothing other than what Hegai, the king’s eunuch who was in charge of the harem, suggested. And Esther won the favor of everyone who saw her.

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Unchecked Copy Box Est 2:16

Unchecked Copy BoxEst 2:16 - She was taken to King Xerxes in the royal residence in the tenth month, 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 - Now the king was attracted to Esther more than to any of the other women, and she won his favor and approval more than any of the other virgins. So he set a royal crown 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 - And the king gave a great banquet, Esther’s banquet, for all his nobles and officials. He proclaimed a holiday throughout the provinces and distributed gifts with royal liberality.

Mordecai Uncovers a Conspiracy

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Unchecked Copy Box Est 2:19

Unchecked Copy BoxEst 2:19 - When the virgins were assembled a 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 - But Esther had kept secret her family background and nationality just as Mordecai had told her to do, for she continued to follow Mordecai’s instructions as she had done when he was bringing her up.

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Unchecked Copy Box Est 2:21

Unchecked Copy BoxEst 2:21 - During the time Mordecai was sitting at the king’s gate, Bigthana[fn] and Teresh, two of the king’s officers who guarded the doorway, became angry and conspired to assassinate King Xerxes.

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Unchecked Copy Box Est 2:22

Unchecked Copy BoxEst 2:22 - But Mordecai found out about the plot and told Queen Esther, who in turn reported it to the king, giving credit to Mordecai.

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Unchecked Copy Box Est 2:23

Unchecked Copy BoxEst 2:23 - And when the report was investigated and found to be true, the two officials were impaled on poles. All this was recorded in the book of the annals in the presence of the king.
See the NIV Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).
NIV Footnotes
Hebrew Jeconiah, a variant of Jehoiachin
Hebrew Bigthan, a variant of Bigthana
NIV

THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV®
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.®
Used by Permission of Biblica, Inc.® All rights reserved worldwide.


See detailed copyright information.

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

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Esther Chapter 2 — Additional Translations:

King James Version New King James Version New Living Translation English Standard 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