Atlas Biblica

    Esther · 23 verses

    Esther 2

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    The chapter

    What happens here

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    Esther enters a twelve-month beauty regimen, spends one night with the king, and emerges as queen—while, almost in the margins, Mordecai uncovers a murder plot.

    A kingdom-wide searchvv. 1–11

    When Xerxes remembered Vashti, his attendants proposed an empire-wide search for a replacement queen. Commissioners gathered beautiful young women into the harem at the citadel of Susa, where Hegai oversaw their care. Among them was Esther, an orphan raised by her cousin Mordecai, who instructed her to conceal her people and lineage. Hegai favored her, gave her special treatment and seven maidservants, while Mordecai paced daily outside the court to learn how she fared.

    One evening, one morningvv. 12–18

    The procedure proceeds with remarkable punctuality: six months of myrrh oil, six months of perfumes and cosmetics, then an evening visit to the king and a morning transfer to Shaashgaz’s second harem. Esther asks for nothing beyond Hegai’s advice, and finds favor with everyone who sees her. Xerxes loves her above the others, crowns her queen in place of Vashti, and celebrates with a banquet, a tax holiday, and royal gifts.

    The plot at the gatevv. 19–23

    The virgins are assembled a second time, for reasons the chapter does not explain, and Mordecai is now sitting at the king’s gate. Esther still keeps her identity concealed. There Mordecai learns that Bigthan and Teresh, two guards at the entrance, are plotting to assassinate Xerxes. Esther reports the matter in Mordecai’s name; the plot is verified, the two officials are hanged, and the whole affair is entered into the royal chronicles.

    The text

    Read it

    Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.

    1. Esth 2:1Some time later, when the anger of King Xerxes had subsided, he remembered Vashti and what she had done, and what had been decreed against her.

    2. Esth 2:2Then the king’s attendants proposed, “Let a search be made for beautiful young virgins for the king,

    3. Esth 2:3and let the king appoint commissioners in each province of his kingdom to assemble all the beautiful young women into the harem at the citadel of Susa. Let them be placed under the care of Hegai, the king’s eunuch in charge of the women, and let them be given beauty treatments.

    4. Esth 2:4Then let the young woman who pleases the king become queen in place of Vashti.” This suggestion pleased the king, and he acted accordingly.

    5. Esth 2:5Now there was at the citadel of Susa a Jewish man from the tribe of Benjamin named Mordecai son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish.

    6. Esth 2:6He had been carried into exile from Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon among those taken captive with Jeconiah king of Judah.

    7. Esth 2:7And Mordecai had brought up Hadassah (that is, Esther), the daughter of his uncle, because she did not have a father or mother. The young woman was lovely in form and appearance, and when her father and mother had died, Mordecai had taken her as his own daughter.

    8. Esth 2:8When the king’s command and edict had been proclaimed, many young women gathered at the citadel of Susa under the care of Hegai. Esther was also taken to the palace and placed under the care of Hegai, the custodian of the women.

    9. Esth 2:9And the young woman pleased him and obtained his favor, so he quickly provided her with beauty treatments and the special diet. He assigned to her seven select maidservants from the palace and transferred her with them to the best place in the harem.

    10. Esth 2:10Esther did not reveal her people or her lineage, because Mordecai had instructed her not to do so.

    11. Esth 2:11And every day Mordecai would walk back and forth in front of the court of the harem to learn about Esther’s welfare and what was happening to her.

    12. Esth 2:12In the twelve months before her turn to go to King Xerxes, the harem regulation required each young woman to receive beauty treatments with oil of myrrh for six months, and then with perfumes and cosmetics for another six months.

    13. Esth 2:13When the young woman would go to the king, she was given whatever she requested to take with her from the harem to the king’s palace.

    14. Esth 2:14She would go there in the evening, and in the morning she would return to a second harem under the care of Shaashgaz, the king’s eunuch in charge of the concubines. She would not return to the king unless he delighted in her and summoned her by name.

    15. Esth 2:15Now Esther was the daughter of Abihail, the uncle from whom Mordecai had adopted her as his own daughter. And when it was her turn to go to the king, she did not ask for anything except what Hegai, the king’s trusted official in charge of the harem, had advised. And Esther found favor in the eyes of everyone who saw her.

    16. Esth 2:16She was taken to King Xerxes in the royal palace in the tenth month, the month of Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign.

    17. Esth 2:17And the king loved Esther more than all the other women, and she found grace and favor in his sight more than all of the other virgins. So he placed the royal crown upon her head and made her queen in place of Vashti.

    18. Esth 2:18Then the king held a great banquet, Esther’s banquet, for all his officials and servants. He proclaimed a tax holiday in the provinces and gave gifts worthy of the king’s bounty.

    19. Esth 2:19When the virgins were assembled a second time, Mordecai was sitting at the king’s gate.

    20. Esth 2:20Esther still had not revealed her lineage or her people, just as Mordecai had instructed. She obeyed Mordecai’s command, as she had done under his care.

    21. Esth 2:21In those days, while Mordecai was sitting at the king’s gate, Bigthan and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs who guarded the entrance, grew angry and conspired to assassinate King Xerxes.

    22. Esth 2:22When Mordecai learned of the plot, he reported it to Queen Esther, and she informed the king on Mordecai’s behalf.

    23. Esth 2:23After the report had been investigated and verified, both officials were hanged on the gallows. And all this was recorded in the Book of the Chronicles in the presence of the king.

    01 — Also here

    Who else the chapter reaches

    Names written in the English are linked in the text above. These are the ones that are not: an entity the Hebrew or Greek names under a spelling the translation does not use, or one reached only by an assertion about a verse of this chapter.

    Named in the Hebrew or Greek somewhere in this chapter, under a form the English renders differently — the registry's Ludim against the translation's Ludites — so there is no word in the sentence to hang the link on.

    Reached by an assertion Atlas extracted from a verse of this chapter rather than by a name written in it — a pronoun, a title, or a participant the sentence carries without naming. This layer is model-read and measured at 88.6–90.3% precision, and it is kept separate from the names above for that reason.

    02 — Read alongside

    Where this is echoed

    Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 133 passages were voted onto 22 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.

    • 17Psalms 113:7–8He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the dump
    • 17Luke 1:48–52For He has looked with favor on the humble state of His servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed.
    • 17Ezekiel 17:24Then all the trees of the field will know that I am the LORD. I bring the tall tree down and make the low tree tall. I dry up the green tree and make the withered tree flourish. I, the LORD, have spoken, and I have done it.’”
    • 17Psalms 75:6–7For exaltation comes neither from east nor west, nor out of the desert,
    • 171 Samuel 2:8He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap. He seats them among princes and bestows on them a throne of honor. For the foundations of the earth are the LORD’s, and upon them He has set the world.
    • 9Genesis 39:21the LORD was with him and extended kindness to him, granting him favor in the eyes of the prison warden.
    • 9Proverbs 16:7When a man’s ways please the LORD, He makes even the man’s enemies live at peace with him.
    • 17Esther 1:11to bring Queen Vashti before him, wearing her royal crown, to display her beauty to the people and officials. For she was beautiful to behold.
    • 21Esther 6:2And there it was found recorded that Mordecai had exposed Bigthana and Teresh, two of the eunuchs who guarded the king’s entrance, when they had conspired to assassinate King Xerxes.
    • 4Matthew 14:6On Herod’s birthday, however, the daughter of Herodias danced before them and pleased Herod
    • 9Esther 2:12In the twelve months before her turn to go to King Xerxes, the harem regulation required each young woman to receive beauty treatments with oil of myrrh for six months, and then with perfumes and cosmetics for another six months.
    • 9Esther 2:3and let the king appoint commissioners in each province of his kingdom to assemble all the beautiful young women into the harem at the citadel of Susa. Let them be placed under the care of Hegai, the king’s eunuch in charge of the women, and let them be given beauty treatments.
    • 10Esther 2:20Esther still had not revealed her lineage or her people, just as Mordecai had instructed. She obeyed Mordecai’s command, as she had done under his care.
    • 17Esther 4:14For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows if perhaps you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”
    • 4Matthew 20:16So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”
    • 9Daniel 1:9Now God had granted Daniel favor and compassion from the chief official,

    Onward

    Keep reading

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