Esther 2:18-20

Holman Christian Standard Bible

¹⁸ The king held a great banquet for all his officials and staff.^(A) It was Esther’s banquet. He freed his provinces from tax payments and gave gifts worthy of the king’s bounty.^(B)

¹⁹ When the young women^(C) were assembled together for a second time, Mordecai was sitting at the King’s Gate.^{(D) 20} Esther still had not revealed her birthplace or her ethnic background, as Mordecai had directed. She obeyed Mordecai’s orders, as she always had while he raised her.