King James Version · The Persian return
Esther 2
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After these things, when the of king was appeased, he remembered , and what she had done, and what was decreed against her. Then said the king’s servants that ministered unto him, Let there be fair young virgins sought for the king: And let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of , that they may gather together all the fair young virgins unto the palace, to the house of the women, unto the custody of Hege the king’s chamberlain, keeper of the women; and let their things for purification be given them: And let the maiden which pleaseth the king be queen instead of . And the thing pleased the king; and he did so. Now in the palace there was a certain , whose name was , the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of , a ; Who had been from with which had been with king of Judah, whom the king of had . And he brought up , that is, , his uncle’s daughter: for she had neither nor mother, and the maid was fair and beautiful; whom , when her and mother were , took for his own daughter. So it came to pass, when the king’s and his was heard, and when many maidens were gathered together unto the palace, to the custody of Hegai, that was brought also unto the king’s house, to the custody of Hegai, keeper of the women. And the maiden pleased him, and she obtained kindness of him; and he speedily gave her her things for purification, with such things as belonged to her, and seven maidens, which were meet to be given her, out of the king’s house: and he preferred her and her maids unto the best place of the house of the women. had not shewed her people nor her kindred: for had charged her that she should not shew it. And walked every day before the court of the women’s house, to know how did, and what should become of her. Now when every maid’s turn was come to go in to king , after that she had been twelve months, according to the manner of the women, (for so were the days of their purifications accomplished, to wit, six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with sweet odours, and with other things for the purifying of the women;) 13Then thus came every maiden unto the king; whatsoever she was given her to go with her out of the house of the women unto the king’s house. In the evening she went, and on the morrow she returned into the second house of the women, to the custody of Shaashgaz, the king’s chamberlain, which kept the : she came in unto the king no more, except the king delighted in her, and that she were called by name. Now when the turn of , the daughter of the uncle of , who had taken her for his daughter, was come to go in unto the king, she required nothing but what Hegai the king’s chamberlain, the keeper of the women, appointed. And obtained in the sight of all them that looked upon her. So was taken unto king into his house royal in the tenth month, which is the month , in the seventh year of his reign. And the king loved above all the women, and she obtained and in his sight more than all the virgins; so that he set the royal upon her head, and made her queen instead of . Then the king made a great feast unto all his princes and his servants, even ’s feast; and he made a to the provinces, and gave gifts, according to the state of the king. And when the virgins were gathered together the second time, then sat in the king’s . had not yet shewed her kindred nor her people; as had charged her: for did the of , like as when she was brought up with him. In those days, while sat in the king’s , two of the king’s chamberlains, Bigthan and Teresh, of those which kept the door, were wroth, and sought to lay hand on the king . And the thing was known to , who told it unto the queen; and certified the king thereof in ’s name. And when inquisition was made of the matter, it was found out; therefore they were both : and it was written in the book of the chronicles before the king.
The 1611 translation, public domain. Its original printing included the Apocrypha, which is why the deuterocanonical books can be read here. Notes and cards are EKLI’s own.
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.