2
Then said the king'sservants that ministered unto him, Let there be fair*youngvirginssought for the king:
3
And let the kingappointofficers in all the provinces of his kingdom, that they may gather together all the fair*youngvirgins unto Shushan the palace, to the house of the women, unto the custody of Hege the king'schamberlain,keeper of the women; and let their things for purification be given them:
4
And let the maiden which pleaseth* the king be queen instead of Vashti. And the thingpleased* the king; and he did so.
5
Now in Shushan the palace there was a certainJew, 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 captivity which had been carried away with Jeconiah[a]king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away.
7
And he brought upHadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle'sdaughter: for she had neither father nor mother, and the maid was fairandbeautiful*; whom Mordecai, when her father and mother were dead,took for his own daughter.
8
So it came to pass, when the king'scommandment and his decree was heard, and when manymaidens were gathered together unto Shushan the palace, to the custody of Hegai, that Esther was brought also unto the king'shouse, to the custody of Hegai,keeper of the women.
9
And the maidenpleased* him, and she obtainedkindness of him; and he speedilygave her her things for purification, with such things as belonged to her, and sevenmaidens, which were meet to be given her, out of the king'shouse: and he preferred her and her maids unto the best place of the house of the women.
10
Esther had not shewed her people nor her kindred: for Mordecai had charged her that she should not shew it.
11
And Mordecaiwalked every daybefore the court of the women'shouse, to know[b] how Estherdid, and what should become of her.
12
Now when every maid'sturn was come to go in to kingAhasuerus,after that she had been twelve*months, according to the manner of the women, (for so were the days of their purificationsaccomplished, to wit, sixmonths with oil of myrrh, and sixmonths with sweet odours, and with other things for the purifying of the women;)