Bible Strands
Esther 2:12
In the twelve months before her turn to go to King Xerxes, the harem regulation required each young woman to receive beauty treatments with oil of myrrh for six months, and then with perfumes and cosmetics for another six months.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator outlines the mandatory harem protocol immediately preceding a young woman’s appointed time to approach King Xerxes.
The words — תּוֹר (tor) marks the fixed turn or rotation, while נַעֲרָה (na'arah) specifies the young woman bound by the regulation.
The thread — The repeated emphasis on myrrh and perfumes parallels the sensual preparations in Proverbs 7:17 and Isaiah 57:9, while the enforced bodily discipline anticipates the call to holiness and self-control in 1 Thessalonians 4:4.
Why it lands — The passage requires the reader to observe how institutionalized grooming governs access to power, setting the stage for the young woman’s personal agency described in the following verse.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Now when every maid’s turn was come to go in to king Ahasuerus, after that she had been twelve months, according to the manner of the women, (for so were the days of their purifications accomplished, to wit, six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with sweet odours, and with other things for the purifying of the women;)
Cross-references
- Proverbs 7:17 I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, with aloes, and with cinnamon.
- 1 Thessalonians 4:4 each of you must know how to control his own body in holiness and honor,
- Isaiah 57:9 You went to Molech with oil and multiplied your perfumes. You have sent your envoys a great distance; you have descended even to Sheol itself.
- Song of Solomon 3:6 Who is this coming up from the wilderness like a column of smoke, scented with myrrh and frankincense from all the spices of the merchant?
- Luke 7:37 When a sinful woman from that town learned that Jesus was dining there, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume.