Book of Esther - Ferrar Fenton Bible Translation page 891

The Psalms, Solomon and Sacred Writers

ESTHER.

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2-·-17 20 21* 22 her Quceudom be given by the King ] inn many 'gjr1s_wcrc collected at the to thc least amongst her companions. Thus when the Decree that the King has made is published in all his Kingdoms,-—for they are many, then all the wives will respect their husbands from the greatest to the This advice was satisfactory in the

opinion of the King and the nobles. S0 the King acted on the advice of Memucan, and sent out letters to all the royal provinces. To province and province according to its writing; and to People and People, according to its language, that every man should be master in his own house. He also published it in the language of his own People. Iilyixubrnrsb $1·izhzz after Qismizzing fasbii. After these events the fury of King

Khushrush having subsided, he re- membered Vashti, and what she had done, and what had been decreed against her. So the personal attend- ants ofthe King advised the King to seek young girls of charming beauty for the King. The King consequently appointed o$cers in all the provinces of his Empire, who collected all the charmingly beautiful maiden girls to the Palace of Shushan,to the women's apartments, under the control of Hegai, the eunuch of the King, the Guardian of the wives, to give them baths; and the girl who might be pleasing to the eyes of the King was to reign instead of Vashti. This suggestion was good in the opinion of the King, and it was adopted. Qiziuxg nf ®¤il;zr. There was a man, a jew, an

attendant in the Palace of Shushan, whose name was Mordecai·ben·]air- ben · Shimei ·· ben -· Kish, a man of Benjamin, who had been carried from jerusalem with the transports, when jeconiah, the King of gudah, was transported by King Ne ukad- nezzar to Babel, and he had brought up Hadassah,——·—who is Esther,—·~his niece, for she had neither father nor mother, and the girl was exceedingly beautiful, and attractive to look at, and on the death of her father and mother Mordecai took her to his own home. And when the command and decree of the King was published, Palace of Shushan under the care of Hegai, Esther was also taken to the Palace of the King, to the care of Hegai, the Guardian of the wives; and the girl was attractive in his opinion, and she acquired kindness from him, and he hastened her pre- parations, and the appointments to be given to her, and selected seven girls to be given to her from the royal household. He also removed her and her maids to the house of the handsome women. Esther, however, did not inform

her people or her relatives, for Mordecai had ordered her not to in- form them. But every day Mordecai walked before the Court of the women's house, to enquire about the health of Esther, and what was done with her. I0 II Eb: Hagel xarriagz Gustmu in lnrizui ¥zr¤iu. When a girl’s turn came, and that

girl went to King Khushrush, at the end of her preparations according to the usage of the women, during twelve months;-—-for then the period of the baths were accomplished, --— six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with perfumes, and female baths. The girl went to the King in this way ;——all that she asked for was given to her to accompany her from the women's apartments to the apart- ment of the King. She went in the evening, and returned in the morning to the apartment of the secondary wives, to the care of Shashgaz, the Royal Eunuch, Guardian of the favourites. She never again went to the King, except the King was pleased with her, and might invite her by name. Gather mah: Queen. But when the turn of Esther, the

daughter of Abihail, the uncle of Mordecai, who had adopted her as a daughter, arrived to go to the King, she did not request anything. except what Hegai, the Royal Eunuch, the Guardian of women suggested. Yet Esther found admiration from the eyes of all who saw her. Thus Esther was taken to the apartment of King

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x6 Khushrush in the_ tenth month, which is the month '.l`ebeth,——in the seventh year of his reign. And py the King loved Esther more than all 891
Ferrar Fenton Bible page 0891

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