Esther 2:6-8

New King James Version

^6 (A)Kish^[a] had been carried away from Jerusalem with the captives who had been captured with ^[b]Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away. ⁷ And Mordecai had brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, ^(B)his uncle’s daughter, for she had neither father nor mother. The young woman was lovely and beautiful. When her father and mother died, Mordecai took her as his own daughter.

⁸ So it was, when the king’s command and decree were heard, and when many young women were ^(C)gathered at ^[c]Shushan the ^[d]citadel, under the custody of Hegai, that Esther also was taken to the king’s palace, into the care of Hegai the custodian of the women.