World English Bible · The Persian return
Esther 2
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After these things, when the of King was pacified, he remembered , and what she had done, and what was decreed against her. Then the king's servants who him said, "Let beautiful young virgins be sought for the king. Let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of , that they may gather together all the beautiful young virgins to the citadel of , to the women's house, to the custody of Hegai the king's , keeper of the women. Let cosmetics be given them; and let the maiden who pleases the king be queen instead of ." The thing pleased the king, and he did so. There was a certain in the citadel of whose name was , the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of , a , who had been from with the who had been with king of Judah, whom the king of had . He brought up , that is, , his uncle's daughter; for she had neither nor mother. The maiden was fair and beautiful; and when her and mother were , took her for his own daughter. So, when the king's and his was heard, and when many maidens were gathered together to the citadel of , to the custody of Hegai, was taken into the king's house, to the custody of Hegai, keeper of the women. The maiden pleased him, and she obtained kindness from him. He quickly gave her cosmetics and her portions of food, and the seven choice maidens who were to be given her out of the king's house. He moved her and her maidens to the best place in the women's house. had not her people nor her relatives, because had instructed her that she should not make it known. walked every day in front of the court of the women's house, to find out how was doing, and what would become of her. Each young woman's turn came to go in to King after her purification for twelve months (for so were the days of their purification accomplished, six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with sweet fragrances and with preparations for beautifying women). 13The young woman then came to the king like this: whatever she was given her to go with her out of the women's house to the king's house. In the evening she went, and on the next day she returned into the second women's house, to the custody of Shaashgaz, the king's , who kept the . She came in to the king no more, unless the king delighted in her, and she was called by name. Now when the turn of , the daughter of the uncle of , who had taken her for his daughter, came to go in to the king, she required nothing but what Hegai the king's , the keeper of the women, advised. obtained in the sight of all those who looked at her. So was taken to King into his royal house in the tenth month, which is the month , in the seventh year of his reign. The king loved more than all the women, and she obtained and kindness in his sight more than all the virgins; so that he set the royal on her head, and made her queen instead of . Then the king made a great feast for all his princes and his servants, even feast; and he proclaimed a holiday in the provinces, and gave gifts according to the king's bounty. When the virgins were gathered together the second time, was sitting in the king's . had not yet her relatives nor her people, as had commanded her; for , like she did when she was brought up by him. In those days, while was sitting in the king's , two of the king's , Bigthan and Teresh, who were doorkeepers, were angry, and sought to lay hands on the King . This thing became known to , who informed the queen; and informed the king in name. When this matter was investigated, and it was found to be so, they were both hanged on a gallows; and it was written in the book of the chronicles in the king's .
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The world at this moment · The Persian return, 539 BC to 332 BC ›
Persia takes Babylon and reverses its policy, sending exiled peoples home to rebuild their temples. Judah returns as a small province, rebuilding under imperial permission rather than independence.
- Persia
- The largest empire the world had yet seen, from the Indus to the Aegean, run through provinces, a royal road, and a postal system. Its policy on conquered peoples was to send them home and fund their temples, in exchange for loyalty and prayers for the king. The Cyrus Cylinder states the policy in Cyrus's own words, and Ezra opens with the same policy applied to Judah.
- Judah
- A small, poor province called Yehud, a fraction of the old kingdom, with a rebuilt temple that made the people who remembered the first one weep. No king, and no prospect of one. Leadership passes to priests and scribes, which shapes everything afterward.
- Greece
- Persia and Greece collide at Marathon and Salamis, Persia loses, and Athens spends the following decades on the Parthenon, tragedy, and Socrates. Herodotus writes the first history in order to explain that war. Then Plato and Aristotle, whose vocabulary the church will still be using at Nicaea eight centuries later.
- Further afield
- Rome throws out its kings and becomes a republic. In India and China this is the age of the Buddha's early followers and of Confucian teaching taking hold. More of what the world still thinks with was invented in this era than in almost any other.