14. In the evening she went, and in the morning she returned to the second house of the women, into the hand of Sha‛ashgaz, the sovereign’s eunuch, guardian of the concubines. She would not come in to the sovereign again unless the sovereign delighted in her and called for her by name.
15. And when the turn came for Estĕr, the daughter of Aḇihayil the uncle of Mordeḵai, who had taken her as his daughter, to come in to the sovereign, she sought no matter but what Hĕg̅ai the sovereign’s eunuch, guardian of the women, advised. And Estĕr found favour in the eyes of all who saw her.
16. And Estĕr was taken to Sovereign Aḥashwĕrosh, into his royal palace, in the tenth month, which is the month of Tĕḇĕth, in the seventh year of his reign.
17. And the sovereign loved Estĕr more than all the women, and she found favour and kindness in his eyes more than all the maidens. And he set the royal crown upon her head and made her sovereigness instead of Vashti.
18. And the sovereign made a great feast, the Feast of Estĕr, for all his officials and servants. And he proclaimed a release in the provinces and gave gifts according to the means of a sovereign.
19. And when maidens were assembled a second time, Mordeḵai sat within the sovereign’s gate.
20. Estĕr had not made known her relatives and her people yet, as Mordeḵai commanded her, for Estĕr obeyed the command of Mordeḵai as when she was being raised by him.
21. In those days, while Mordeḵai sat within the sovereign’s gate, two of the sovereign’s eunuchs, Big̅than and Teresh, doorkeepers, were wroth and sought to lay hands on Sovereign Aḥashwĕrosh.
22. And the matter became known to Mordeḵai, who informed Sovereigness Estĕr, and Estĕr spoke to the sovereign in Mordeḵai’s name.
23. And when the matter was searched into, it was confirmed, and both were impaled on a stake. And it was written in the book of the annals in the presence of the sovereign.