1. And so, after this had been carried out, and the indignation of king Artaxerxes had subsided, he remembered Vashti, and what she had done, and what had happened to her.
2. And the servants of the king, and his ministers, said, "Let young women be sought for the king, virgins and beautiful,
3. and let investigators be sent throughout all the provinces for young women, beautiful and virgins. And let them bring them to the city of Susa, and deliver them to the house of the women under the hand of Hegai the eunuch, who is the overseer and keeper of the king's women. And let them receive feminine ornaments, and other things necessary for their use.
4. And whoever among them all will please the king's eyes, let her reign instead of Vashti." The idea pleased the king, and so he ordered it to be done as they had suggested.
5. There was a Jewish man in the city of Susa, by the name of Mordecai, son of Jair, son of Shimei, son of Kish, of the house of Benjamin,
6. who had been carried away from Jerusalem at the time that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon carried away Jeconiah king of Judah,
7. who had raised his brother's daughter Hadassah, who by another name was called Esther. And she had lost both her parents. She was very beautiful, with a graceful appearance. Since her father and mother had both died, Mordecai adopted her as his own daughter.