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Read the Bible

THE MESSAGE

Esther 2:1

Later, when King Xerxes' anger had cooled and he was having second thoughts about what Vashti had done and what he had ordered against her, the king's young attendants stepped in and got the ball rolling: "Let's begin a search for beautiful young virgins for the king. Let the king appoint officials in every province of his kingdom to bring every beautiful young virgin to the palace complex of Susa and to the harem run by Hegai, the king's eunuch who oversees the women; he will put them through their beauty treatments. Then let the girl who best pleases the king be made queen in place of Vashti." The king liked this advice and took it.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Vashti;  

Dictionaries:

- Holman Bible Dictionary - Esther;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Vashti ;  

Encyclopedias:

- The Jewish Encyclopedia - Esther, Apocryphal Book of;   Esther Rabbah;   Metals;  

Devotionals:

- Every Day Light - Devotion for July 18;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Some time later, when King Ahasuerus’s rage had cooled down, he remembered Vashti, what she had done, and what was decided against her.
Hebrew Names Version
After these things, when the wrath of king Achashverosh was pacified, he remembered Vashti, and what she had done, and what was decreed against her.
King James Version
After these things, when the wrath of king Ahasuerus was appeased, he remembered Vashti, and what she had done, and what was decreed against her.
English Standard Version
After these things, when the anger of King Ahasuerus had abated, he remembered Vashti and what she had done and what had been decreed against her.
New Century Version
Later, when King Xerxes was not so angry, he remembered Vashti and what she had done and his order about her.
New English Translation
When these things had been accomplished and the rage of King Ahasuerus had diminished, he remembered Vashti and what she had done and what had been decided against her.
Amplified Bible
After these things, when the wrath of King Ahasuerus (Xerxes) had subsided, he remembered Vashti and what she had done and what had been decreed against her.
New American Standard Bible
After these things, when the anger of King Ahasuerus had subsided, he remembered Vashti and what she had done, and what had been decided regarding her.
World English Bible
After these things, when the wrath of king Ahasuerus was pacified, he remembered Vashti, and what she had done, and what was decreed against her.
Geneva Bible (1587)
After these things, when the wrath of King Ahashuerosh was appeased, he remembred Vashti, and what she had done, and what was decreed against her.
Legacy Standard Bible
After these things when the wrath of King Ahasuerus had subsided, he remembered Vashti and what she had done and what had been decided against her.
Berean Standard Bible
Some time later, when the anger of King Xerxes had subsided, he recalled Vashti and what she had done, and what had been decreed against her.
Contemporary English Version
After a while, King Xerxes got over being angry. But he kept thinking about what Vashti had done and the law that he had written because of her.
Complete Jewish Bible
A while later, when King Achashverosh's anger had subsided, he remembered Vashti, what she had done and what had been decreed against her.
Darby Translation
After these things, when the fury of king Ahasuerus was appeased, he remembered Vashti, and what she had done, and what was decreed against her.
Easy-to-Read Version
Later, King Xerxes stopped being angry. Then he remembered Vashti and what she had done. He remembered his commands about her.
George Lamsa Translation
AFTER these things, when the wrath of King Akhshirash was appeased, he remembered Vashti the queen and what she had done and what was decreed against her.
Good News Translation
Later, even after the king's anger had cooled down, he kept thinking about what Vashti had done and about his proclamation against her.
Lexham English Bible
After these things, when the anger of King Ahasuerus subsided, he remembered Vashti and what she had done and what had been decreed against her.
Literal Translation
After these things, when King Ahasuerus' wrath had calmed down, he remembered Vashti, and what she had done, and what he had decreed against her.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
After these actes whan the displeasure of kynge Ahasuerus was layed, he thoughte vpon Vasthi, what she had done, and what was concluded concernynge her.
American Standard Version
After these things, when the wrath of king Ahasuerus was pacified, he remembered Vashti, and what she had done, and what was decreed against her.
Bible in Basic English
After these things, when the king's feelings were calmer, the thought of Vashti and what she had done and the order he had made against her, came back to his mind.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
After these actes, when the displeasure of king Ahasuerus was nowe alayed, he thought vpon Uasthi, & what she had done, & what was decreed against her.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
After these things, when the wrath of king Ahasuerus was assuaged, he remembered Vashti, and what she had done, and what was decreed against her.
King James Version (1611)
After these things, when the wrath of king Ahasuerus was appeased, hee remembred Uasthi, and what shee had done, and what was decreed against her.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And after this the king’s anger was pacified, and he no more mentioned Astin, bearing in mind what she had said, and how he had condemned her.
English Revised Version
After these things, when the wrath of king Ahasuerus was pacified, he remembered Vashti, and what she had done, and what was decreed against her.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Therfor whanne these thingis weren doon, aftir that the indignacioun of kyng Assuerus was coold, he bithouyte of Vasthi, and what thingis sche hadde do, ethir what thingis sche suffride.
Update Bible Version
After these things, when the wrath of king Ahasuerus was pacified, he remembered Vashti, and what she had done, and what was decreed against her.
Webster's Bible Translation
After these things, when the wrath of king Ahasuerus was appeased, he remembered Vashti, and what she had done, and what was decreed against her.
New King James Version
After these things, when the wrath of King Ahasuerus subsided, he remembered Vashti, what she had done, and what had been decreed against her.
New Living Translation
But after Xerxes' anger had subsided, he began thinking about Vashti and what she had done and the decree he had made.
New Life Bible
After these things, when King Ahasuerus was no longer angry, he remembered Vashti and what she had done, and what had been decided against her.
New Revised Standard
After these things, when the anger of King Ahasuerus had abated, he remembered Vashti and what she had done and what had been decreed against her.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
After these things, when the wrath of King Ahasuerus was appeased, he remembered Vashti, and what she had done, and what was decreed against her.
Douay-Rheims Bible
After this, when the wrath of king Assuerus was appeased, he remembered Vasthi, and what she had done and what she had suffered:
Revised Standard Version
After these things, when the anger of King Ahasu-e'rus had abated, he remembered Vashti and what she had done and what had been decreed against her.
Young's Literal Translation
After these things, at the ceasing of the fury of the king Ahasuerus, he hath remembered Vashti, and that which she did, and that which hath been decreed concerning her;
New American Standard Bible (1995)
After these things when the anger of King Ahasuerus had subsided, he remembered Vashti and what she had done and what had been decreed against her.

Contextual Overview

1Later, when King Xerxes' anger had cooled and he was having second thoughts about what Vashti had done and what he had ordered against her, the king's young attendants stepped in and got the ball rolling: "Let's begin a search for beautiful young virgins for the king. Let the king appoint officials in every province of his kingdom to bring every beautiful young virgin to the palace complex of Susa and to the harem run by Hegai, the king's eunuch who oversees the women; he will put them through their beauty treatments. Then let the girl who best pleases the king be made queen in place of Vashti." The king liked this advice and took it. 5Now there was a Jew who lived in the palace complex in Susa. His name was Mordecai the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish—a Benjaminite. His ancestors had been taken from Jerusalem with the exiles and carried off with King Jehoiachin of Judah by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon into exile. Mordecai had reared his cousin Hadassah, otherwise known as Esther, since she had no father or mother. The girl had a good figure and a beautiful face. After her parents died, Mordecai had adopted her. 8 When the king's order had been publicly posted, many young girls were brought to the palace complex of Susa and given over to Hegai who was overseer of the women. Esther was among them. 9Hegai liked Esther and took a special interest in her. Right off he started her beauty treatments, ordered special food, assigned her seven personal maids from the palace, and put her and her maids in the best rooms in the harem. Esther didn't say anything about her family and racial background because Mordecai had told her not to. 11 Every day Mordecai strolled beside the court of the harem to find out how Esther was and get news of what she was doing. 12Each girl's turn came to go in to King Xerxes after she had completed the twelve months of prescribed beauty treatments—six months' treatment with oil of myrrh followed by six months with perfumes and various cosmetics. When it was time for the girl to go to the king, she was given whatever she wanted to take with her when she left the harem for the king's quarters. She would go there in the evening; in the morning she would return to a second harem overseen by Shaashgaz, the king's eunuch in charge of the concubines. She never again went back to the king unless the king took a special liking to her and asked for her by name. 15 When it was Esther's turn to go to the king (Esther the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai, who had adopted her as his daughter), she asked for nothing other than what Hegai, the king's eunuch in charge of the harem, had recommended. Esther, just as she was, won the admiration of everyone who saw her. 16 She was taken to King Xerxes in the royal palace in the tenth month, the month of Tebeth, in the seventh year of the king's reign. 17The king fell in love with Esther far more than with any of his other women or any of the other virgins—he was totally smitten by her. He placed a royal crown on her head and made her queen in place of Vashti. Then the king gave a great banquet for all his nobles and officials—"Esther's Banquet." He proclaimed a holiday for all the provinces and handed out gifts with royal generosity. 19On one of the occasions when the virgins were being gathered together, Mordecai was sitting at the King's Gate. All this time, Esther had kept her family background and race a secret as Mordecai had ordered; Esther still did what Mordecai told her, just as when she was being raised by him.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

am 3543, bc 461

he remembered: Daniel 6:14-18

what was decreed: Esther 1:12-21

Reciprocal: Esther 2:16 - the seventh

Cross-References

Genesis 1:1
First this: God created the Heavens and Earth—all you see, all you don't see. Earth was a soup of nothingness, a bottomless emptiness, an inky blackness. God's Spirit brooded like a bird above the watery abyss.
Genesis 2:5
At the time God made Earth and Heaven, before any grasses or shrubs had sprouted from the ground— God hadn't yet sent rain on Earth, nor was there anyone around to work the ground (the whole Earth was watered by underground springs)— God formed Man out of dirt from the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life. The Man came alive—a living soul!
Genesis 2:8
Then God planted a garden in Eden, in the east. He put the Man he had just made in it. God made all kinds of trees grow from the ground, trees beautiful to look at and good to eat. The Tree-of-Life was in the middle of the garden, also the Tree-of-Knowledge-of-Good-and-Evil.
2 Chronicles 2:12
He wrote on, "Blessed be the God of Israel, who made heaven and earth, and who gave King David a son so wise, so knowledgeable and shrewd, to build a temple for God and a palace for himself. I've sent you Huram-Abi—he's already on his way—he knows the construction business inside and out. His mother is from Dan and his father from Tyre. He knows how to work in gold, silver, bronze, iron, stone, and wood, in purple, violet, linen, and crimson textiles; he is also an expert engraver and competent to work out designs with your artists and architects, and those of my master David, your father.
Nehemiah 9:6
Then on the twenty-fourth day of this month, the People of Israel gathered for a fast, wearing burlap and faces smudged with dirt as signs of repentance. The Israelites broke off all relations with foreigners, stood up, and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their parents. While they stood there in their places, they read from the Book of The Revelation of God , their God, for a quarter of the day. For another quarter of the day they confessed and worshiped their God . A group of Levites—Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Kenani—stood on the platform and cried out to God , their God, in a loud voice. The Levites Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah said, "On your feet! Bless God , your God, for ever and ever!" Blessed be your glorious name, exalted above all blessing and praise! You're the one, God , you alone; You made the heavens, the heavens of heavens, and all angels; The earth and everything on it, the seas and everything in them; You keep them all alive; heaven's angels worship you!
Psalms 33:6
The skies were made by God 's command; he breathed the word and the stars popped out. He scooped Sea into his jug, put Ocean in his keg.
Isaiah 42:5
God 's Message, the God who created the cosmos, stretched out the skies, laid out the earth and all that grows from it, Who breathes life into earth's people, makes them alive with his own life: "I am God . I have called you to live right and well. I have taken responsibility for you, kept you safe. I have set you among my people to bind them to me, and provided you as a lighthouse to the nations, To make a start at bringing people into the open, into light: opening blind eyes, releasing prisoners from dungeons, emptying the dark prisons. I am God . That's my name. I don't franchise my glory, don't endorse the no-god idols. Take note: The earlier predictions of judgment have been fulfilled. I'm announcing the new salvation work. Before it bursts on the scene, I'm telling you all about it."
Isaiah 45:18
God , Creator of the heavens— he is, remember, G od. Maker of earth— he put it on its foundations, built it from scratch. He didn't go to all that trouble to just leave it empty, nothing in it. He made it to be lived in. This God says: "I am God , the one and only. I don't just talk to myself or mumble under my breath. I never told Jacob, ‘Seek me in emptiness, in dark nothingness.' I am God . I work out in the open, saying what's right, setting things right. So gather around, come on in, all you refugees and castoffs. They don't seem to know much, do they— those who carry around their no-god blocks of wood, praying for help to a dead stick? So tell me what you think. Look at the evidence. Put your heads together. Make your case. Who told you, and a long time ago, what's going on here? Who made sense of things for you? Wasn't I the one? God ? It had to be me. I'm the only God there is— The only God who does things right and knows how to help. So turn to me and be helped—saved!— everyone, whoever and wherever you are. I am God , the only God there is, the one and only. I promise in my own name: Every word out of my mouth does what it says. I never take back what I say. Everyone is going to end up kneeling before me. Everyone is going to end up saying of me, ‘Yes! Salvation and strength are in God !'" All who have raged against him will be brought before him, disgraced by their unbelief. And all who are connected with Israel will have a robust, praising, good life in God !
Isaiah 65:17
"Pay close attention now: I'm creating new heavens and a new earth. All the earlier troubles, chaos, and pain are things of the past, to be forgotten. Look ahead with joy. Anticipate what I'm creating: I'll create Jerusalem as sheer joy, create my people as pure delight. I'll take joy in Jerusalem, take delight in my people: No more sounds of weeping in the city, no cries of anguish; No more babies dying in the cradle, or old people who don't enjoy a full lifetime; One-hundredth birthdays will be considered normal— anything less will seem like a cheat. They'll build houses and move in. They'll plant fields and eat what they grow. No more building a house that some outsider takes over, No more planting fields that some enemy confiscates, For my people will be as long-lived as trees, my chosen ones will have satisfaction in their work. They won't work and have nothing come of it, they won't have children snatched out from under them. For they themselves are plantings blessed by God , with their children and grandchildren likewise God -blessed. Before they call out, I'll answer. Before they've finished speaking, I'll have heard. Wolf and lamb will graze the same meadow, lion and ox eat straw from the same trough, but snakes—they'll get a diet of dirt! Neither animal nor human will hurt or kill anywhere on my Holy Mountain," says God .
Jeremiah 10:16
But the Portion-of-Jacob is the real thing. He put the whole universe together And pays special attention to Israel. His name? God -of-the-Angel-Armies!

Gill's Notes on the Bible

After these things, when the wrath of King Ahasuerus was appeased,.... Which went off with his wine, and so was quickly after, a few days at most, unless this can be understood as after the expedition of Xerxes into Greece, from whence he returned to Shushan, in the seventh year of his reign; and if he is the Ahasuerus here meant, he married Esther that year, Esther 2:16 and it seems certain, that after his expedition he gave himself up to his amours, and in his way to Sardis he fell in love with his brother's wife, and then with his daughter b:

he remembered Vashti; her beauty, and was grieved, as Jarchi observes, that she was removed from him; and so Josephus says c, that he passionately loved her, and could not bear parting with her, and therefore was grieved that he had brought himself into such difficulties: the Targumists carry it further, and say that he was wroth with those that advised him to it, and ordered them to be put to death, and that they were:

and what she had done; that it was a trivial thing, and not deserving of such a sentence as he had passed upon her; that it was not done from contempt of him, but from modesty, and a strict regard to the laws of the Persians:

and what was decreed against her; that she should come no more before him, but be divorced from him; the thought of which gave him great pain and uneasiness.

b Herodot. Calliope, sive, l. 9. c. 107. c Antiqu. l. 11. c. 6. sect. 2.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

These events must belong to the time between the great assembly held at Susa in Xerxes’ third year (483 B.C.), and the departure of the monarch on his expedition against Greece in his fifth year, 481 B.C.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

CHAPTER II

The counsellors advise that a selection of virgins should be

made throughout the empire, out of whom the king should choose

one to be queen in place of Vashti, 1-4.

Account of Mordecai and his cousin Esther, 5-7.

She is chosen among the young women, and is placed under the

care of Hegai, the king's chamberlain, to go through a year's

purification, 8-11.

The manner in which these young women were introduced to the

king, and how those were disposed of who were not called again

to the king's bed, 12-14.

Esther pleases the king, and is set above all the women; and he

makes her queen in the place of Vashti, and does her great

honour, 15-20.

Mordecai, sitting at the king's gate, discovers a conspiracy

formed against the king's life by two of his chamberlains; he

informs the king, the matter is investigated, they are found

guilty and hanged, and the transaction is recorded, 21-23.

NOTES ON CHAP. II


 
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