Esther 2:7

The NET Bible®

Now he was acting as the guardian of Hadassah (that is, Esther), the daughter of his uncle, for neither her father nor her mother was alive. This young woman was very attractive and had a beautiful figure. When her father and mother died, Mordecai had raised her as if she were his own daughter.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Mordecai was the legal guardian of his cousin Hadassah (that is, Esther), because she had no father or mother. The young woman had a beautiful figure and was extremely good-looking. When her father and mother died, Mordecai had adopted her as his own daughter.

Hebrew Names Version
He brought up Hadassah, who is, Ester, his uncle's daughter: for she had neither father nor mother, and the maiden was fair and beautiful; and when her father and mother were dead, Mordekhai took her for his own daughter.

King James Version
And he brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle's daughter: for she had neither father nor mother, and the maid was fair and beautiful; whom Mordecai, when her father and mother were dead, took for his own daughter.

English Standard Version
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.

New Century Version
Mordecai had a cousin named Hadassah, who had no father or mother, so Mordecai took care of her. Hadassah was also called Esther, and she had a very pretty figure and face. Mordecai had adopted her as his own daughter when her father and mother died.

Amplified Bible
He was the guardian of Hadassah, that is Esther, his uncle's daughter, for she had no father or mother. The young woman was beautiful of form and face; and when her father and mother died, Mordecai took her in as his own daughter.

New American Standard Bible
He was the guardian to Hadassah, that is Esther, his uncle's daughter, for she had no father or mother. Now the young woman was beautiful of form and face, and when her father and her mother died, Mordecai took her as his own daughter.

World English Bible
He brought up Hadassah, who is, Esther, his uncle's daughter: for she had neither father nor mother, and the maiden was fair and beautiful; and when her father and mother were dead, Mordecai took her for his own daughter.

Geneva Bible (1587)
And he nourished Hadassah, that is Ester, his vncles daughter: for she had neither father nor mother, & the mayde was fayre, and beautifull to looke on: & after the death of her father, and her mother, Mordecai tooke her for his own daughter

Legacy Standard Bible
And he was bringing up Hadassah, that is Esther, his uncle's daughter, for she had no father or mother. Now the young lady was beautiful in form and beautiful in appearance, and when her father and her mother died, Mordecai took her as his own daughter.

Berean Standard Bible
And 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 in as his own daughter.

Contemporary English Version
Mordecai had a very beautiful cousin named Esther, whose Hebrew name was Hadassah. He had raised her as his own daughter, after her father and mother died.

Complete Jewish Bible
He had raised Hadassah, that is, Ester, his uncle's daughter; because she had neither father nor mother. The girl was shapely and good-looking; after her father's and mother's death, Mordekhai had adopted her as his own daughter.

Darby Translation
And he brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle's daughter; for she had neither father nor mother—and the maiden was fair and beautiful—and when her father and mother were dead, Mordecai took her for his own daughter.

Easy-to-Read Version
Mordecai had a cousin named Hadassah. She didn't have a father or a mother, so Mordecai took care of her. Mordecai had adopted her as his own daughter when her father and mother died. Hadassah was also called Esther. She had a very pretty face and a good figure.

George Lamsa Translation
And he brought up Hadassah, that is Esther, his uncles daughter; for she had neither father nor mother, and the maid was fair and beautiful; and when her father and mother died, Mordecai took her for his own daughter.

Good News Translation
He had a cousin, Esther, whose Hebrew name was Hadassah; she was a beautiful young woman, and had a good figure. At the death of her parents, Mordecai had adopted her and brought her up as his own daughter.

Lexham English Bible
He was raising Hadassah, that is Esther, his uncle's daughter, for she did not have a father or a mother; the young woman had a beautiful figure and was very attractive. When her father and mother died, Mordecai had taken her as his daughter.

Literal Translation
And he was rearing Hadassah (she is Esther) his uncle's daughter, for she had no father nor mother. And the young woman was fair of appearance and beautiful of form. And at the death of herfather and mother, Mordecai took her for hisdaughter.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
and he norished Hadassa (that is Hester) his vncles danghter: for she had nether father ner mother, and she was a fayre and beutyfull damsell. And whan hir father and mother dyed, Mardocheus receaued her as his awne daughter.

American Standard Version
And he brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle's daughter: for she had neither father nor mother, and the maiden was fair and beautiful; and when her father and mother were dead, Mordecai took her for his own daughter.

Bible in Basic English
And he had been a father to Hadassah, that is Esther, the daughter of his father's brother: for she had no father or mother, and she was very beautiful; and when her father and mother were dead, Mordecai took her for his daughter.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And he norished Hadassa (that is Esther) his vncles daughter: for he had neither father nor mother, and she was a faire and beautifull mayden, whom Mardocheus (when her father & mother were dead) receaued for his owne daughter.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
And he brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle's daughter; for she had neither father nor mother, and the maiden was of beautiful form and fair to look on; and when her father and mother were dead, Mordecai took her for his own daughter.

King James Version (1611)
And hee brought vp Hadassah (that is Esther) his vncles daughter, for she had neither father nor mother, and the maid was faire and beautiful, whom Mordecai (when her father and mother were dead) tooke for his owne daughter.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And he had a foster child, daughter of Aminadab his father’s brother, and her name was Esther; and when her parents were dead, he brought her up for a wife for himself: and the damsel was beautiful.

English Revised Version
And he brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle's daughter: for she had neither father nor mother, and the maiden was fair and beautiful; and when her father and mother were dead, Mordecai took her for his own daughter.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
which Mardoche was the nurschere of Edissa, the douyter of his brothir, which douytir was clepid Hester bi anothir name, and sche hadde lost bothe fadir and modir; sche was ful fair, and semeli of face; and whanne hir fadir and modir weren deed, Mardoche `purchaside hir in to a douytir to hymsilf.

Update Bible Version
And he brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle's daughter: for she had neither father nor mother, and the maiden was fair and beautiful; and when her father and mother were dead, Mordecai took her for his own daughter.

Webster's Bible Translation
And he brought up Hadassah, that [is], Esther, his uncle's daughter: for she had neither father nor mother, and the maid [was] fair and beautiful; whom Mordecai, when her father and mother were dead, took for his own daughter.

New King James Version
And Mordecai had brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle's daughter, for she had neither father nor mother. The young woman was lovely and beautiful. When her father and mother died, Mordecai took her as his own daughter.

New Living Translation
This man had a very beautiful and lovely young cousin, Hadassah, who was also called Esther. When her father and mother died, Mordecai adopted her into his family and raised her as his own daughter.

New Life Bible
He had brought up Hadassah, that is Esther, the daughter of his father's brother. For she did not have a father or mother. The young lady was beautiful in body and face. When her father and mother died, Mordecai took her as his own daughter.

New Revised Standard
Mordecai had brought up Hadassah, that is Esther, his cousin, for she had neither father nor mother; the girl was fair and beautiful, and when her father and her mother died, Mordecai adopted her as his own daughter.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And it came to pass, that he was bringing up Hadassah, the same, was Esther, his uncle's daughter, for she had neither father nor mother, - and, the maiden, was of beautiful form and pleasing appearance, and when her father and mother died, Mordecai took her for his own daughter.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And he had brought up his brother’s daughter Edissa, who by another name was called Esther: now she had lost both her parents: and was exceeding fair and beautiful. And her father and mother being dead, Mardochai adopted her for his daughter.

Revised Standard Version
He had brought up Hadas'sah, that is Esther, the daughter of his uncle, for she had neither father nor mother; the maiden was beautiful and lovely, and when her father and her mother died, Mor'decai adopted her as his own daughter.

Young's Literal Translation
and he is supporting Hadassah -- she [is] Esther -- daughter of his uncle, for she hath neither father nor mother, and the young woman [is] of fair form, and of good appearance, and at the death of her father and her mother hath Mordecai taken her to him for a daughter.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
He was bringing up Hadassah, that is Esther, his uncle's daughter, for she had no father or mother. Now the young lady was beautiful of form and face, and when her father and her mother died, Mordecai took her as his own daughter.

Contextual Overview

¹ When these things had been accomplished and the rage of King Ahasuerus had diminished, he remembered Vashti and what she had done and what had been decided against her. ² The king's servants who attended him said, "Let a search be conducted in the king's behalf for attractive young women. ³ And let the king appoint officers throughout all the provinces of his kingdom to gather all the attractive young women to Susa the citadel, to the harem under the authority of Hegai, the king's eunuch who oversees the women, and let him provide whatever cosmetics they desire. ⁴ Let the young woman whom the king finds most attractive become queen in place of Vashti." This seemed like a good idea to the king, so he acted accordingly. ⁵ Now there happened to be a Jewish man in Susa the citadel whose name was Mordecai. He was the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjaminite, ⁶ who had been taken into exile from Jerusalem with the captives who had been carried into exile with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had taken into exile. ⁷ Now he was acting as the guardian of Hadassah (that is, Esther), the daughter of his uncle, for neither her father nor her mother was alive. This young woman was very attractive and had a beautiful figure. When her father and mother died, Mordecai had raised her as if she were his own daughter. ⁸ It so happened that when the king's edict and his law became known many young women were taken to Susa the citadel to be placed under the authority of Hegai. Esther also was taken to the royal palace to be under the authority of Hegai, who was overseeing the women. ⁹ This young woman pleased him, and she found favor with him. He quickly provided her with her cosmetics and her rations; he also provided her with the seven specially chosen young women who were from the palace. He then transferred her and her young women to the best quarters in the harem. ¹⁰ Now Esther had not disclosed her people or her lineage, for Mordecai had instructed her not to do so.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

brought up: Heb. nourished, Ephesians 6:4

Hadassah: Daniel 1:6, Daniel 1:7

his uncle's: Esther 2:15, Jeremiah 32:7-12

fair and beautiful: Heb. fair of form and good of countenance, Esther 1:11

took: Genesis 48:5, 2 Corinthians 6:18, 1 John 3:1

Reciprocal: Esther 2:10 - for Mordecai Esther 4:14 - but thou Esther 8:1 - came before Job 29:16 - a father

Cross-References

Genesis 2:14
The name of the third river is Tigris; it runs along the east side of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates.

Genesis 2:15
The Lord God took the man and placed him in the orchard in Eden to care for it and to maintain it.

Genesis 2:20
So the man named all the animals, the birds of the air, and the living creatures of the field, but for Adam no companion who corresponded to him was found.

Genesis 2:21
So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep, and while he was asleep, he took part of the man's side and closed up the place with flesh.

Genesis 3:23
So the Lord God expelled him from the orchard in Eden to cultivate the ground from which he had been taken.

Genesis 7:22
Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died.

Numbers 16:22
Then they threw themselves down with their faces to the ground and said, "O God, the God of the spirits of all people, will you be angry with the whole community when only one man sins?"

Numbers 27:16
"Let the Lord , the God of the spirits of all humankind, appoint a man over the community,

Job 4:19
how much more to those who live in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed like a moth?

Job 27:3
for while my spirit is still in me, and the breath from God is in my nostrils,

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And he brought up Hadassah (that is Esther) his uncle's daughter,.... Her Hebrew name was Hadassah, which signifies a myrtle, to which the Israelites, and good men among them, are sometimes compared, Zechariah 1:8. Her Persian name was Esther, which some derive from "satar", to hide, because hidden in the house of Mordecai, so the former Targum, and by his advice concealed her kindred: or rather she was so called by Ahasuerus, when married to him, this word signifying in the Persian language a "star" h and so the latter Targum says she was called by the name of the star of Venus, which in Greek is αστηρ; though it is said i, that the myrtle, which is called "hadassah" in Hebrew, is in the Syriac language "esta"; so "asa" in the Talmud k signifies a myrtle; and, according to Hillerus l, "esther" signifies the black myrtle, which is reckoned the most excellent; and so "amestris", according to him, signifies the sole myrtle, the incomparable one. Xerxes had a wife, whose name was Amestris, which Scaliger thinks is as if it was הם אסתר, and the same with Esther; but to this are objected, that her father's name was Otanes, and her cruelty in the mutilation of the wife of Masistis, her husband's brother, and burning alive fourteen children of the best families of the Persians, as a sacrifice to the infernal gods; and besides, Xerxes had a son by her marriageable, in the seventh year of this reign m, the year of Ahasuerus, in which he married Esther: but it is observed by some, that these things are confounded with the destruction of Haman's family, or told by the Persians to obliterate the memory of Esther, from whom they passed to the Greek historians:

for she had neither father nor mother; according to the former Targum, her father died and left her mother with child of her, and her mother died as soon as she was delivered of her:

and the maid was fair and beautiful; which was both the reason why she was taken and brought into the king's house, and why Mordecai took so much care of her:

whom Mordecai, when her father and mother were dead, took for his own daughter; loved her, and brought her up as if she had been his daughter, and called her so, as the Targum. The Rabbins, as Jarchi and Aben Ezra observe, say, he took her in order to make her his wife; and so the Septuagint render it; though perhaps no more may be intended by that version than that he brought her up to woman's estate. Josephus n calls him her uncle; and so the Vulgate Latin version, his brother's daughter; but both are mistaken.

h Castell. Lex. Persic. Latin. col. 329. Vid. Pfeiffer. difficil. Script. cent. 3. loc. 28. i Caphtor Uperah, fol. 60. 2. k T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 44. 1. l Onomastic. Sacr. p. 621, 622. m Herodot. Calliope, sive, l. 9. c. 107. 111. & Polymnia, sive, l. 7. c. 61. 114. n Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 11. c. 6. sect. 2.)

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Hadassah, הדסה hădassâh from הדס hădas (“myrtle”) would seem to have been the Hebrew, and Esther the Persian, name of the damsel. Esther is thought to be connected through the Zend with ἀστήρ astēr, “star.” But there is not at present any positive evidence of the existence in Old Persian of a kindred word.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Esther 2:7. He brought up Hadassah — הדשה hadassah signifies a myrtle in Chaldee: this was probably her first or Babylonish name. When she came to the Persian court, she was called Esther, [Persian] aster, or [Persian] sitara, which signifies a star in Persian: the name is undoubtedly Persian. Esther was the daughter of Abihail, the uncle of Mordecai, and therefore must have been Mordecai's cousin, though the Vulgate and Josephus make her Mordecai's niece: but it is safest here to follow the Hebrew.