Esther Is Made Queen

1After a while, King Artaxerxes got over being angry. He stopped being lonely for Vashti, and he forgot about all the things he had said about her when he divorced her. 2Then his personal servants said:

Your Majesty, a search must be made to find you some beautiful young women who have good reputations 3and are virgins. You can select officers in every province to bring them to the place where you keep your wives here in the capital city of Susa. Your servant who is in charge of your wives can be in charge of the young women and make sure they are given beauty creams and whatever else they need. 4Choose the woman who pleases you the most and make her your queen instead of Vashti.

Artaxerxes liked these suggestions, and he followed them.

5At this time a Jew named Mordecai was living in Susa, the capital of Persia. His father was named Jair, and his grandfather Shimei was the son of Kish from the tribe of Benjamin. 6 Mordecai was one of the people that King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia had taken prisoner from Jerusalem.

7Mordecai's uncle Aminadab had a daughter named Esther. But Aminadab and his wife had died, and so Mordecai had raised his cousin Esther as his own daughter. She had grown into a beautiful young woman, 8and when the king's command was sent out, she was taken to the palace along with the many young women who had been brought to Susa. She and the others were placed in the care of Gai, who was in charge of all the king's wives. 9Esther was Gai's favorite, and he began her beauty treatments at once. He also gave her plenty of food and seven maids from the king's palace. Esther and her servants were treated better than the other women.

10Mordecai had warned Esther not to tell anyone she was a Jew, and she obeyed him. 11He was anxious to find out what would happen to her. So each day he would walk back and forth in front of the courtyard at the building where the women lived.

12Each of the young women was given beauty treatments for a whole year before going to King Artaxerxes. The first six months her skin was rubbed with olive oil and myrrh, and the last six months it was treated with beauty cream mixed with spices. 13Then she spent one night alone with Artaxerxes. He sent a servant to bring her to the palace 14in the evening. The next morning she went to the place where the king's wives stayed after being with him. There the king's servant Gai was in charge of them, and only the ones that the king asked for by name could go back to him.

15-16Esther's turn to go to King Artaxerxes came in the month of Adar, the twelfth month, in the seventh year that he was king. Esther did everything Gai told her to do. Everyone liked her, 17and even Artaxerxes liked her better than any of the other young women he had seen. In fact, he fell in love with her and placed the queen's crown on her head. 18Then he gave a seven-day drinking party to celebrate his marriage to Esther, and he made a law that for a certain length of time, no one in his kingdom would have to pay any taxes.

Mordecai Saves the King's Life

19At this time, Mordecai was serving as one of the king's officials. 20He had warned Esther not to tell anyone that she was a Jew, but he had also told her to continue worshiping God and obeying his commands, just as she had done when she was living in Mordecai's home. Esther obeyed Mordecai and did not change her way of life.

21The king's two chief bodyguards were angry that Mordecai had been promoted, and they decided to murder the king. 22But when Mordecai found out about their plot, he warned Esther, and she told the king.

23King Artaxerxes questioned the two men to make sure they were guilty, then he had them hanged. He also had someone write up a report praising Mordecai for the kindness he had shown, and the report was placed in the royal library.