16. Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus, to his palace, in the tenth month that is Tebeth in the seventh year of his reign.
17. And the king loved Esther more than all the women, and she won his favor and loyalty more than all the virgins, so he put a royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti.
18. And the king gave a great banquet, Esther’s banquet, for all his officials and servants. And he granted a tax amnesty to the provinces and he gave gifts with royal liberality.
19. When the virgins were gathered a second time, Mordecai was sitting at the gate of the king.
20. Esther had not made known her family and her people, just as Mordecai had instructed her; for Esther did what Mordecai told her, just as when she was brought up by him.
21. In those days Mordecai was sitting at the gate of the king. Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs from the keepers of the threshold, became angry and they conspired to assassinate King Ahasuerus.
22. And the matter became known to Mordecai and he told it to Queen Esther, and Esther told it to the king in the name of Mordecai.
23. And the matter was investigated and found to be so; and the two of them were hanged on the gallows, and it was written in the scroll of the events of the days before the presence of the king.