⁶ who had been deported from Jerusalem with the captives who had been exiled with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had exiled. ⁷ He was the guardian of ^[a]Hadassah, that is Esther, his uncle’s daughter, for she had no father or mother. The young woman was beautiful of form and ^[b]face; and when her father and mother died, Mordecai took her in as his own daughter.

Esther Finds Favor

⁸ So it came about when the king’s command and his decree were proclaimed and when many young women were gathered together in the citadel of Susa into the custody of Hegai, that Esther was taken to the king’s palace [and placed] in the custody of Hegai, who was in charge of the women.