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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"><title>Esther 2 GNT</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/esther/2.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="../topmenuchap/esther/2-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">GNT</a> > Esther 2</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../esther/1.htm" title="Esther 1">◄</a> Esther 2 <a href="../esther/3.htm" title="Esther 3">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading">Good News Translation</div><div class="chap"><h3 class="s">Esther Becomes Queen</h3><p class="par"><span class="v17_2_1"><span class="reftext" id="Esth.2.1" class="v17_2_1">1</span>Later, even after the king's anger had cooled down, he kept thinking about what Vashti had done and about his proclamation against her. </span><span class="v17_2_2"><span class="reftext" id="Esth.2.2" class="v17_2_2">2</span>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? </span><span class="v17_2_3"><span class="reftext" id="Esth.2.3" class="v17_2_3">3</span>You can appoint officials in every province of the empire and have them bring all these beautiful young women to your harem here in Susa, the capital city. Put them in the care of Hegai, the eunuch who is in charge of your women, and let them be given a beauty treatment. </span><span class="v17_2_4"><span class="reftext" id="Esth.2.4" class="v17_2_4">4</span>Then take the young woman you like best and make her queen in Vashti's place.”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v17_2_4">The king thought this was good advice, so he followed it.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v17_2_5"><span class="reftext" id="Esth.2.5" class="v17_2_5">5</span>There in Susa lived a Jew named Mordecai son of Jair; he was from the tribe of Benjamin and was a descendant of Kish and Shimei. </span><span class="v17_2_6"><span class="reftext" id="Esth.2.6" class="v17_2_6">6</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Esth.2.6!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> When King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon took King Jehoiachin of Judah into exile from Jerusalem, along with a group of captives, Mordecai was among them. </span><span class="v17_2_7"><span class="reftext" id="Esth.2.7" class="v17_2_7">7</span>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.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v17_2_8"><span class="reftext" id="Esth.2.8" class="v17_2_8">8</span>When the king had issued his new proclamation and many young women were being brought to Susa, Esther was among them. She too was put in the royal palace in the care of Hegai, who had charge of the harem. </span><span class="v17_2_9"><span class="reftext" id="Esth.2.9" class="v17_2_9">9</span>Hegai liked Esther, and she won his favor. He lost no time in beginning her beauty treatment of massage and special diet. He gave her the best place in the harem and assigned seven young women specially chosen from the royal palace to serve her.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v17_2_10"><span class="reftext" id="Esth.2.10" class="v17_2_10">10</span>Now, on the advice of Mordecai, Esther had kept it secret that she was Jewish. </span><span class="v17_2_11"><span class="reftext" id="Esth.2.11" class="v17_2_11">11</span>Every day Mordecai would walk back and forth in front of the courtyard of the harem, in order to find out how she was getting along and what was going to happen to her.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v17_2_12"><span class="reftext" id="Esth.2.12" class="v17_2_12">12</span>The regular beauty treatment for the women lasted a year—massages with oil of myrrh for six months and with oil of balsam for six more. After that, each woman would be taken in turn to King Xerxes. </span><span class="v17_2_13"><span class="reftext" id="Esth.2.13" class="v17_2_13">13</span>When she went from the harem to the palace, she could wear whatever she wanted. </span><span class="v17_2_14"><span class="reftext" id="Esth.2.14" class="v17_2_14">14</span>She would go there in the evening, and the next morning she would be taken to another harem and put in the care of Shaashgaz, the eunuch in charge of the king's concubines. She would not go to the king again unless he liked her enough to ask for her by name.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v17_2_15"><span class="reftext" id="Esth.2.15" class="v17_2_15">15</span>The time came for Esther to go to the king. Esther—the daughter of Abihail and the cousin of Mordecai, who had adopted her as his daughter; Esther—admired by everyone who saw her. When her turn came, she wore just what Hegai, the eunuch in charge of the harem, advised her to wear. </span><span class="v17_2_16"><span class="reftext" id="Esth.2.16" class="v17_2_16">16</span>So in Xerxes' seventh year as king, in the tenth month, the month of Tebeth, Esther was brought to King Xerxes in the royal palace. </span><span class="v17_2_17"><span class="reftext" id="Esth.2.17" class="v17_2_17">17</span>The king liked her more than any of the other women, and more than any of the others she won his favor and affection. He placed the royal crown on her head and made her queen in place of Vashti. </span><span class="v17_2_18"><span class="reftext" id="Esth.2.18" class="v17_2_18">18</span>Then the king gave a great banquet in Esther's honor and invited all his officials and administrators. He proclaimed a holiday<a href="#fn" id="link_Esth.2.18!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> for the whole empire and distributed gifts worthy of a king.</span></p><h3 class="s">Mordecai Saves the King's Life</h3><p class="par"><span class="v17_2_19"><span class="reftext" id="Esth.2.19" class="v17_2_19">19</span>Meanwhile Mordecai had been appointed by the king to an administrative position. </span><span class="v17_2_20"><span class="reftext" id="Esth.2.20" class="v17_2_20">20</span>As for Esther, she had still not let it be known that she was Jewish. Mordecai had told her not to tell anyone, and she obeyed him in this, just as she had obeyed him when she was a little girl under his care.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v17_2_21"><span class="reftext" id="Esth.2.21" class="v17_2_21">21</span>During the time that Mordecai held office in the palace, Bigthana and Teresh, two of the palace eunuchs who guarded the entrance to the king's rooms, became hostile to King Xerxes and plotted to assassinate him. </span><span class="v17_2_22"><span class="reftext" id="Esth.2.22" class="v17_2_22">22</span>Mordecai learned about it and told Queen Esther, who then told the king what Mordecai had found out. </span><span class="v17_2_23"><span class="reftext" id="Esth.2.23" class="v17_2_23">23</span>There was an investigation, and it was discovered that the report was true, so both men were hanged on the gallows. The king ordered an account of this to be written down in the official records of the empire.</span></p><a name="fn"></a><br /><br /><br /><b>Footnotes:<br /><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">2.18: </char><char style="fq" closed="false">holiday; </char><char style="ft" closed="false">or </char><char style="fq" closed="false">remission of taxes.</char></note></div></div><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><div align="center"><p><span style="font-size:11pt;">Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition)</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt;">© 1992 American Bible Society. 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