¹After these things, when the wrath of King Ahasuerus was pacified, he remembered Vashti, and what she had done, and what was decreed against her.

¹Po teh dogodbah, ko se je pomiril srd kralja Ahasvera, se je spomnil Vaste in kar je bila storila in kar je bilo zanjo določeno.

²Then the king’s servants who served him said, “Let beautiful young virgins be sought for the king.

²Tedaj mu reko hlapci kraljevi, ki so mu stregli: Naj se kralju poiščejo mladenke, device, lepega obraza;

³Let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of his kingdom, that they may gather together all the beautiful young virgins to the citadel of Susa, to the women’s house, to the custody of Hegai the king’s eunuch, keeper of the women. Let cosmetics be given them;

³in kralj naj postavi pooblaščence v vseh pokrajinah kraljevine svoje, da naj zbero vse lepe mladenke, device, v grad Susan v žensko hišo pod roko Hegaja, kraljevega komornika, varuha žen, in naj se jim dado potrebščine za očiščevanje;

⁴and let the maiden who pleases the king be queen instead of Vashti.” The thing pleased the king, and he did so.

⁴in katera devica se bo priljubila kralju, ta bodi kraljica namesto Vaste. Ta nasvet se je zdel dober kralju, in storil je tako.

⁵There was a certain Jew in the citadel of Susa, whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite,

⁵Bil je v gradu Susanu neki Jud, njega ime Mardohej, sin Jaira, sinu Simeja, sinu Kisa, Benjaminec,

⁶who had been carried away from Jerusalem with the captives who had been carried away with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away.

⁶ki je bil odpeljan iz Jeruzalema z jetniki, kateri so bili na tuje odgnani z Jekonijem, kraljem Judovim, ki jih je peljal v ujetništvo Nebukadnezar, kralj babilonski.

⁷He brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle’s daughter; for she had neither father nor mother. The maiden was fair and beautiful; and when her father and mother were dead, Mordecai took her for his own daughter.

⁷Ta je redil Hadaso (ta je Estera), svojega strica hčer; zakaj ni imela ne očeta, ne matere. In ta mladenka je bila lepe postave in zalega obraza. In ko sta bila umrla njen oče in mati, si jo je Mardohej vzel za hčer.

⁸So it happened, when the king’s commandment and his decree was heard, and when many maidens were gathered together to the citadel of Susa, to the custody of Hegai, that Esther was taken into the king’s house, to the custody of Hegai, keeper of the women.

⁸In tako se zgodi, ko se je razglasila beseda kraljeva in njegova zapoved in ko so veliko deklic zbrali v grad Susan pod roko Hegajevo, da vzemo tudi Estero v kraljevo hišo pod varstvo Hegaja, varuha žen.

⁹The maiden pleased him, and she obtained kindness from him. He quickly gave her cosmetics and her portions of food, and the seven choice maidens who were to be given her out of the king’s house. He moved her and her maidens to the best place in the women’s house.

⁹In deklica mu je ugajala in našla milost pred njim. In podvizal se je, da ji da njene potrebščine za očiščevanje in njene deleže in sedem deklet, ki so bile zanjo izbrane iz kraljeve hiše; in prestavil jo je ž njenimi deklicami v najboljši kraj ženske hiše.

¹⁰Esther had not made known her people nor her relatives, because Mordecai had instructed her that she should not make it known.

¹⁰Estera pa ni naznanila ljudstva svojega, ne rodovine svoje, zakaj Mardohej ji je bil zapovedal, naj tega ne pove.

¹¹Mordecai walked every day in front of the court of the women’s house, to find out how Esther was doing, and what would become of her.

¹¹In Mardohej se je vsak dan izprehajal pred dvoriščem ženske hiše, da bi zvedel, ali se dobro vede Esteri in kaj se ž njo godi.

¹²Each young woman’s turn came to go in to King Ahasuerus after her purification for twelve months (for so were the days of their purification accomplished, six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with sweet fragrances and with preparations for beautifying women).

¹²Ko pa je prišla vrsta posamezni deklici, da bi šla noter h kralju Ahasveru, potem ko so ji bili delali po določilu za žene dvanajst mesecev (kajti tako so se dopolnjevali dnevi njih očiščevanja, namreč šest mesecev z mirovim oljem in šest mesecev z dišavami in s čistilnimi mazili za ženske),

¹³The young woman then came to the king like this: whatever she desired was given her to go with her out of the women’s house to the king’s house.

¹³tedaj je šla deklica h kralju; karkoli je želela, ji je bilo dano, da s tem odičena gre iz hiše ženske v hišo kraljevo.

¹⁴In the evening she went, and on the next day she returned into the second women’s house, to the custody of Shaashgaz, the king’s eunuch, who kept the concubines. She came in to the king no more, unless the king delighted in her, and she was called by name.

¹⁴Zvečer je šla in zjutraj se je vrnila v drugo žensko hišo pod roko Saasgaza, kraljevega komornika, ki je varoval priležnice; ni šla več h kralju, razen če si jo je kralj priljubil in je bila poklicana po imenu.

¹⁵Now when the turn of Esther, the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her for his daughter, came to go in to the king, she required nothing but what Hegai the king’s eunuch, the keeper of the women, advised. Esther obtained favor in the sight of all those who looked at her.

¹⁵Ko pa je prišla vrsta na Estero, hčer Abihaila, strica Mardohejevega, ki si jo je bil vzel za hčer, ni zahtevala ničesar, samo kar je rekel Hegaj, komornik kraljev, varuh žen. In Estera si je pridobila milost v očeh vseh, ki so jo gledali.

¹⁶So Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus into his royal house in the tenth month, which is the month Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign.

¹⁶Estera je bila torej vzeta h kralju Ahasveru, v njegovo hišo kraljevo, v desetem mesecu, ki je mesec Tebet, v sedmem letu njegovega kraljevanja.

¹⁷The king loved Esther more than all the women, and she obtained favor and kindness in his sight more than all the virgins; so that he set the royal crown on her head, and made her queen instead of Vashti.

¹⁷In kralj je ljubil Estero mimo vseh žen, in pridobila si je naklonjenost in milost v očeh njegovih bolj nego vse device, tako da ji je bil posadil kraljičino krono na glavo in jo storil za kraljico namesto Vaste.

¹⁸Then the king made a great feast for all his princes and his servants, even Esther’s feast; and he proclaimed a holiday in the provinces, and gave gifts according to the king’s bounty.

¹⁸Tedaj je kralj napravil veliko gostovanje vsem svojim knezom in hlapcem svojim, Esterine gostí; in napravil je praznovanje po pokrajinah in delil darove s kraljevo darežljivostjo.

¹⁹When the virgins were gathered together the second time, Mordecai was sitting in the king’s gate.

¹⁹In ko so v drugič zbirali device, je sedel Mardohej med kraljevimi vrati.

²⁰Esther had not yet made known her relatives nor her people, as Mordecai had commanded her; for Esther obeyed Mordecai, like she did when she was brought up by him.

²⁰Estera pa še ni naznanila rodovine svoje, ne ljudstva svojega, kakor ji je bil zapovedal Mardohej; kajti Estera se je ravnala po povelju Mardohejevem, kakor ko je bila v njegovi odgoji.

²¹In those days, while Mordecai was sitting in the king’s gate, two of the king’s eunuchs, Bigthan and Teresh, who were doorkeepers, were angry, and sought to lay hands on the King Ahasuerus.

²¹V tistih dneh, ko je Mardohej sedel med kraljevimi vrati, sta se ujezila dva kraljeva komornika, Bigtan in Teres, iz tistih, ki so čuvali vrata, in sta mislila položiti roke na kralja Ahasvera.

²²This thing became known to Mordecai, who informed Esther the queen; and Esther informed the king in Mordecai’s name.

²²To je zvedel Mardohej in povedal kraljici Esteri, Estera pa je naznanila kralju v imenu Mardohejevem.In ko se je stvar preiskala in dokazala, so oba obesili na drevje, in zapisano je bilo v knjigo letopisov pred kraljem.

²³When this matter was investigated, and it was found to be so, they were both hanged on a tree; and it was written in the book of the chronicles in the king’s presence.

²³In ko se je stvar preiskala in dokazala, so oba obesili na drevje, in zapisano je bilo v knjigo letopisov pred kraljem.