Bible in Basic English
"And in this way the girl went in to the king; whatever she had a desire for was given to her to take with her from the women's house into the house of the king."
— Esther 2:13, Bible in Basic English
“Then thus came every maiden unto the king; whatsoever she desired was given her to go with her out of the house of the women unto the king’s house.”
Esther had not said what family or people she came from, for Mordecai had given her orders not to do so.
And every day Mordecai took his walk before the square of the women's house, to see how Esther was and what would be done to her.
Now every girl, when her turn came, had to go in to King Ahasuerus, after undergoing, for a space of twelve months, what was ordered by the law for the women (for this was the time necessary for making them clean, that is, six months with oil of myrrh and six months with sweet perfumes and such things as are needed for making women clean):
And in this way the girl went in to the king; whatever she had a desire for was given to her to take with her from the women's house into the house of the king.
In the evening she went, and on the day after she came back to the second house of the women, into the keeping of Shaashgaz, one of the king's unsexed servants who had the care of the king's wives: only if the king had delight in her and sent for her by name did she go in to him again.
Now when the time came for Esther, the daughter of Abihail, his father's brother, whom Mordecai had taken as his daughter, to go in to the king, she made request for nothing but what Hegai, the king's servant and keeper of the women, had given her. And Esther was looked on kindly by all who saw her.
So Esther was taken in to King Ahasuerus in his house in the tenth month, which is the month Tebeth, in the seventh year of his rule.