Study Desk

Now when the turn of Esther, ^(C1)the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai who had taken her as his daughter, came to go in to the king, she did not request anything except what ^(C2)Hegai, the king's eunuch who was in charge of the women, ^(F1)advised. And Esther was finding favor in the eyes of all who saw her.

So Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus in his royal palace in the tenth month, which is the month Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign.

The king loved Esther more than all the women, and she found favor and kindness with him more than all the virgins, so that ^(C1)he set the royal turban on her head and made her queen in place of Vashti.

Then ^(C1)the king held a great banquet, Esther's banquet, for all his officials and his servants; he also made a holiday for the provinces and gave gifts ^(C2)in proportion to the king's bounty.

^(C1)Now when the virgins were gathered together for the second time, then Mordecai ^(C2)was sitting at the king's gate.

^(C1)Esther still had not revealed her relatives or her people, just as Mordecai had instructed her; for Esther did ^(F1)what Mordecai told her just as she had ^(C2)when under his care.