NIV Esther Audio Bible
Esther 2: Esther Arrives to the Palace – Clear & Engaging Audio Bible Reading | The Search for a New Queen and Esther’s Favor with Hegai
Immerse yourself in the captivating story of Esther with this clear and engaging audio recording of Esther 2. Follow Esther’s arrival to the palace and the search for a new queen, her favor with Hegai, and her preparation for meeting the king. Perfect for study, reflection, or meditation, dive into this powerful chapter and let the Scriptures come alive.
ESTHER 2 (NIV)
1 Later when King Xerxes’ fury had subsided, he remembered Vashti and what she
had done and what he had decreed about her.
2 Then the king’s personal
attendants proposed, “Let a search be made for beautiful young virgins for the
king.
3 Let the king appoint commissioners in every province of his realm to
bring all these beautiful young women into the harem at the citadel of Susa.
Let them be placed under the care of Hegai, the king’s eunuch, who is in
charge of the women; and let beauty treatments be given to them.
4 Then let
the young woman who pleases the king be queen instead of Vashti.” This advice
appealed to the king, and he followed it.
5 Now there was in the citadel of Susa a Jew of the tribe of Benjamin, named
Mordecai son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish,
6 who had been
carried into exile from Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, among
those taken captive with Jehoiachin king of Judah.
7 Mordecai had a cousin
named Hadassah, whom he had brought up because she had neither father nor
mother. This young woman, who was also known as Esther, had a lovely figure
and was beautiful. Mordecai had taken her as his own daughter when her father
and mother died.
8 When the king’s order and edict had been proclaimed, many young women were
brought to the citadel of Susa and put under the care of Hegai. Esther also
was taken to the king’s palace and entrusted to Hegai, who had charge of the
harem.
9 She pleased him and won his favor. Immediately he provided her with
her beauty treatments and special food. He assigned to her seven female
attendants selected from the king’s palace and moved her and her attendants
into the best place in the harem.
10 Esther had not revealed her nationality and family background, because
Mordecai had forbidden her to do so.
11 Every day he walked back and forth
near the courtyard of the harem to find out how Esther was and what was
happening to her.
12 Before a young woman’s turn came to go in to King Xerxes, she had to
complete twelve months of beauty treatments prescribed for the women, six
months with oil of myrrh and six with perfumes and cosmetics.
13 And this is
how she would go to the king: Anything she wanted was given her to take with
her from the harem to the king’s palace.
14 In the evening she would go there
and in the morning return to another part of the harem to the care of
Shaashgaz, the king’s eunuch who was in charge of the concubines. She would
not return to the king unless he was pleased with her and summoned her by
name.
15 When the turn came for Esther (the young woman Mordecai had adopted, the
daughter of his uncle Abihail) to go to the king, she asked for nothing other
than what Hegai, the king’s eunuch who was in charge of the harem, suggested.
And Esther won the favor of everyone who saw her.
16 She was taken to King
Xerxes in the royal residence in the tenth month, the month of Tebeth, in the
seventh year of his reign.
17 Now the king was attracted to Esther more than to any of the other women,
and she won his favor and approval more than any of the other virgins. So he
set 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 nobles and officials.
He proclaimed a holiday throughout the provinces and distributed gifts with
royal liberality.
19 When the virgins were assembled a second time, Mordecai was sitting at the
king’s gate.
20 But Esther had kept secret her family background and
nationality just as Mordecai had told her to do, for she continued to follow
Mordecai’s instructions as she had done when he was bringing her up.
21 During the time Mordecai was sitting at the king’s gate, Bigthana and
Teresh, two of the king’s officers who guarded the doorway, became angry and
conspired to assassinate King Xerxes.
22 But Mordecai found out about the plot
and told Queen Esther, who in turn reported it to the king, giving credit to
Mordecai.
23 And when the report was investigated and found to be true, the
two officials were impaled on poles. All this was recorded in the book of the
annals in the presence of the king.