Esther 2:14-16
Expanded Bible
14 In the evening she would go to the king’s ·palace [L house], and in the morning she would return ·to another part of the [or to a second; or again to the] ·women’s quarters [harem; L house of the women]. There she would be placed under the ·care [custody; authority] of Shaashgaz, the king’s eunuch in charge of the ·slave women [concubines; C secondary wives]. The girl would not go back to the king again unless he was pleased with her and ·asked for [summoned; requested] her by name.
15 The ·time [L turn] came for Esther daughter of Abihail, Mordecai’s uncle [C Esther was Mordecai’s younger cousin, v. 7], who had been raised [taken] by Mordecai as his own daughter, to go to the king. She asked for only what Hegai ·suggested [advised; recommended] she should take. (Hegai was the king’s eunuch who ·was in charge of [supervised] the women.) Everyone who saw Esther ·liked [favored] her. 16 So Esther was taken to King ·Xerxes [L Ahasuerus] in the royal ·palace [L house] in the tenth month [C early winter], the month of Tebeth, during ·Xerxes’ [L Ahasuerus’s] seventh year ·as king [of his reign].
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