Esther 2:2

New King James Version

Then the king's servants who attended him said: "Let beautiful young virgins be sought for the king;

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
The king’s personal attendants suggested, “Let a search be made for beautiful young virgins for the king.

Hebrew Names Version
Then said the king's servants who ministered to him, Let there be beautiful young virgins sought for the king:

King James Version
Then said the king's servants that ministered unto him, Let there be fair young virgins sought for the king:

English Standard Version
Then the king's young men who attended him said, "Let beautiful young virgins be sought out for the king.

New Century Version
Then the king's personal servants suggested, "Let a search be made for beautiful young girls for the king.

New English Translation
The king's servants who attended him said, "Let a search be conducted in the king's behalf for attractive young women.

Amplified Bible
Then the king's attendants, who served him, said, "Let beautiful young virgins be sought for the king.

New American Standard Bible
Then the king's attendants, who served him, said, "Let beautiful young virgins be sought for the king.

World English Bible
Then said the king's servants who ministered to him, Let there be beautiful young virgins sought for the king:

Geneva Bible (1587)
And the Kings seruants that ministred vnto him, sayd, Let them seeke for the King beautifull yong virgins,

Legacy Standard Bible
Then the young men of the king, who attended to him, said, "Let young virgins, beautiful in appearance, be sought for the king.

Berean Standard Bible
Then the king's attendants proposed, "Let a search be made for beautiful young virgins for the king,

Contemporary English Version
Then the king's personal servants said: Your Majesty, a search must be made to find you some beautiful young women.

Complete Jewish Bible
The king's servants attending him said, "A search should be made for young, good-looking virgins.

Darby Translation
Then said the king's servants that attended upon him, Let there be maidens, virgins of beautiful countenance, sought for the king;

Easy-to-Read Version
Then the king's personal servants had a suggestion. They said, "Search for beautiful young virgins for the king.

George Lamsa Translation
Then the kings servants and his ministers said to him, Let there be beautiful young virgins sought for the king;

Good News Translation
So some of the king's advisers who were close to him suggested, "Why don't you make a search to find some beautiful young virgins?

Lexham English Bible
And the king's servants attending him said, "Let them seek attractive young virgins for the king.

Literal Translation
And the king's servants who served him said, Let beautiful young virgins be sought for the king.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Then sayde the kynges seruauntes: Let there be fayre yonge virgins soughte for the kynge,

American Standard Version
Then said the king's servants that ministered unto him, Let there be fair young virgins sought for the king:

Bible in Basic English
Then the servants who were waiting on the king said to him, Let search be made for some fair young virgins for the king:

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Then sayde the kinges seruauntes that ministred vnto hym: Let there be faire young virgins sought for the king,

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Then said the king's servants that ministered unto him: 'Let there be sought for the king young virgins fair to look on;

King James Version (1611)
Then saide the kings seruants, that ministred vnto him, Let there bee faire yong virgins sought for the king:

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Then the servants of the king said, Let there be sought for the king chaste and beautiful young virgins.

English Revised Version
Then said the king's servants that ministered unto him, Let there be fair young virgins sought for the king:

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And the children and the mynystris of the kyng seiden to `the kyng, Damyselis, virgyns `and faire, be souyt to the kyng; and `men ben sent,

Update Bible Version
Then the king's attendants that ministered to him said, Let there be fair young virgins sought for the king:

Webster's Bible Translation
Then said the king's servants that ministered to him, Let there be fair young virgins sought for the king:

New Living Translation
So his personal attendants suggested, "Let us search the empire to find beautiful young virgins for the king.

New Life Bible
Then the king's servants who served him said, "Let beautiful young women be found for the king.

New Revised Standard
Then the king's servants who attended him said, "Let beautiful young virgins be sought out for the king.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Then said the young men of the king, who waited upon him, - Let them seek out for the king young virgins, of pleasing appearance;

Douay-Rheims Bible
And the king’s servants and his officers said: Let young women be sought for the king, virgins and beautiful,

Revised Standard Version
Then the king's servants who attended him said, "Let beautiful young virgins be sought out for the king.

Young's Literal Translation
and servants of the king, his ministers, say, `Let them seek for the king young women, virgins, of good appearance,

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Then the king's attendants, who served him, said, "Let beautiful young virgins be sought for the king.

Contextual Overview

¹ After these things, when the wrath of King Ahasuerus subsided, he remembered Vashti, what she had done, and what had been decreed against her. ² Then the king's servants who attended him said: "Let beautiful young virgins be sought for the king; ³ and let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of his kingdom, that they may gather all the beautiful young virgins to Shushan the citadel, into the women's quarters, under the custody of Hegai [fn] the king's eunuch, custodian of the women. And let beauty preparations be given them. ⁴ Then let the young woman who pleases the king be queen instead of Vashti." This thing pleased the king, and he did so. ⁵ In Shushan the citadel there was a certain Jew whose name was Mordecai the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite. ⁶ Kish [fn] had been carried away from Jerusalem with the captives who had been captured with Jeconiah 2 Kings 24:6 and elsewhere">[fn] king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away. ⁷ 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. ⁸ So it was, when the king's command and decree were heard, and when many young women were gathered at Shushan the citadel, under the custody of Hegai, that Esther also was taken to the king's palace, into the care of Hegai the custodian of the women. ⁹ Now the young woman pleased him, and she obtained his favor; so he readily gave beauty preparations to her, besides her allowance. Then seven choice maidservants were provided for her from the king's palace, and he moved her and her maidservants to the best place in the house of the women. ¹⁰ Esther had not revealed her people or family, for Mordecai had charged her not to reveal it.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

king's servants: Esther 1:10, Esther 1:14, Esther 6:14

Let there be: Genesis 12:14, 1 Kings 1:2

Reciprocal: Genesis 12:15 - princes 1 Kings 1:3 - So 1 Kings 12:14 - the counsel

Cross-References

Genesis 1:31
Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

Genesis 2:8
The LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed.

Genesis 2:11
The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one which skirts the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold.

Exodus 23:12
Six days you shall do your work, and on the seventh day you shall rest, that your ox and your donkey may rest, and the son of your female servant and the stranger may be refreshed.

Exodus 31:17
It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed."'

Deuteronomy 5:14
but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you.

Isaiah 58:13
"If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, From doing your pleasure on My holy day, And call the Sabbath a delight, The holy day of the LORD honorable, And shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, Nor finding your own pleasure, Nor speaking your own words,

John 5:17
But Jesus answered them, "My Father has been working until now, and I have been working."

Hebrews 4:4
For He has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way: "And God rested on the seventh day from all His works"; Genesis 2:2">[fn]

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Then said the king's servants that ministered unto him,.... Fearing that, if Vashti should be restored, vengeance would be taken on them; or however to remove the grief and melancholy of the king, they gave the following advice:

let there be fair young virgins sought for the king; that he might enjoy them, and choose one of them, the most agreeable to him, and put her in the room of Vashti.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Esther 2:2. Let there be fair young virgins sought for the king — This was the usual way in which the harem or seraglio was furnished: the finest women in the land, whether of high or low birth, were sought out, and brought to the harem. They all became the king's concubines: but one was raised, as chief wife or sultana, to the throne; and her issue was specially entitled to inherit.