2 Some time later when King Ahashverosh (Ahasuerus/Xerxes) no longer felt so angry, he started to miss Vashti. But when she’d disobeyed his command, he had made a decree that she could never come into his presence again. 2 So some of the young men who served the king suggested to him, “Your majesty, you should get a new wife for yourself. You could tell your servants to look for young virgins who are very beautiful. 3 You could assign officers in each province of your empire to bring every virgin who is very beautiful here to your capital city of Shushan (Susa). They could stay in the harem for virgins under the custody of Hegay, the castrated royal guardian who takes care of the young women who live there and he could arrange for them to receive beauty treatments. 4 Then you could decide which young woman you like best and then make her queen instead of Vashti.”

The king liked what they suggested, so he did it.

5 At that time, there was a Jewish man named Mordekai living in the capital city of Shushan. (He was from the tribe of Benyamin: his father was Yair, his grandfather was Shimei, and his great-grandfather was Kish 6 who’d been taken away from Yerushalem (Jerusalem) and led to Bavel (Babylon) when King Nevukadnetsar (Nebuchadnezzar) of Bavel had exiled Yekaneyah, the king of Yehudah (Judah), along with many of his people.)[ref] 7 ⇔Now Mordekai was taking care of his cousin, who was an orphan. When her father and mother had died, Mordekai had adopted her as his own daughter. Her Hebrew name was Hadasah, and her Persian name was Ester. Ester was now a young woman and she was exceptionally attractive.

8 So when the king’s command and decree became known, many young women were being brought into the capital city of Shushan and placed under Hegay’s charge, and this is what happened to Ester. (Hegay was the overseer of the women.) 9 Hegay was very impressed with Ester, and he treated her favourably. He quickly arranged for Ester to receive her beauty treatments and her allotment of food, as well as choosing seven female servants from the king’s palace and assigning them to be her personal attendants. He also moved Ester and her attendants to the best rooms in the harem for virgins. 10 (Ester hadn’t revealed her family ties or her Jewishness to anyone, because Mordekai had instructed her not to.)

11 Every day Mordekai would walk around in front of the courtyard of the women’s harem to find out from others how Ester was doing and how she was being treated.

12 ⇔Each young woman would get twelve months of beauty treatment according to the Persian law for women—there would be six months of applying oil of myrrh, then six months of perfumes and other lotions designed for women. Then their turn would come, one at a time, to be taken to King Ahashverosh (Ahasuerus/Xerxes). 13 The young woman was allowed to take whatever she wanted from the harem when she went to the king’s house. 14 She’d be taken across in the evening, and in the morning she’d be led out to the other harem which was for the concubines. (That harem was overseen by Sha’ashgaz, another castrated royal guardian.) The women taken there wouldn’t go again to the king’s house unless he had especially liked them and summoned her back by name.