Study Desk

And I came to Jerusalem, and observed the evil that Eliashib had done for Tobijah, in preparing him a chamber in the courts of the house of God.

And I made storekeepers over the storehouses: Shelemiah the priest, and Zadok the scribe, and of the Levites, Pedaiah; and subordinate to them, Hanan the son of Zaccur, the son of Mattaniah; for they were esteemed faithful, and their office was to distribute to their brethren.

Remember me, O my God, concerning this, and wipe not out my good deeds which I have done for the house of my God, and for the charges thereof!

And I commanded the Levites that they should purify themselves, and that they should come and keep the gates, to hallow the sabbath day. Remember this also for me, my God, and spare me according to thy great loving-kindness!

And I contended with them, and cursed them, and smote certain of them and plucked off their hair, and adjured them by God [saying], Ye shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor take their daughters for your sons or for yourselves.

Remember them, my God, for they are polluters of the priesthood, and of the covenant of the priesthood and of the Levites!

and for the wood-offering, at times appointed, and for the first-fruits. Remember me, O my God, for good!

And the drinking was, according to commandment, without constraint; for so the king had appointed to all the magnates of his house, that they should do according to every man's pleasure.

Also the queen Vashti made a feast for the women of the royal house which belonged to king Ahasuerus.

to bring Vashti the queen before the king with the royal crown to shew the peoples and the princes her beauty; for she was of beautiful countenance.

And the king said to the wise men who knew the times (for so was the king's business [conducted] before all that knew law and judgment;

For the act of the queen will come abroad to all women, so as to render their husbands contemptible in their eyes, when they shall say, The king Ahasuerus commanded the queen Vashti to be brought in before him, and she came not!

and when the king's edict which he shall make shall be heard throughout his realm—for it is great—all the wives shall give to their husbands honour, from the greatest to the least.

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

and let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of his kingdom, that they may gather together all the young virgins of beautiful countenance to Shushan the fortress, to the house of the women, unto the custody of Hegai the king's chamberlain, keeper of the women; and let their things for purification be given.

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.

And the maiden pleased him, and obtained favour before him; and he speedily gave her her things for purification, and her portions, and the seven maidens selected to be given her, out of the king's house; and he removed her and her maids to the best [place] of the house of the women.

Esther had not made known her people nor her birth; for Mordecai had charged her that she should not make it known.

And when every maiden's turn came to go in to king Ahasuerus after that she had been treated for twelve months, according to the manner of the women (for so were the days of their purification accomplished—six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with spices, and with things for the purifying of the women,

And when the turn of Esther, the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her for his daughter, came to go in to the king, she required nothing but what Hegai the king's chamberlain, keeper of the women, appointed. And Esther obtained grace in the sight of all them that saw her.