The king loved Esther: for very strong emphasis the author states the king’s attraction to Esther with three expressions. First, the king loved Esther, then she found grace and [she found] favor in his sight. The words grace and favor are similar in meaning (see comments on chesed and chen in verses 9 and 15). They may be an example of a construction known as hendiadys (see 6.3), that is, one idea expressed through two words: “devoted favor” (so Anchor Bible). New Revised Standard Version reads “she won his favor and devotion.”
Today’s English Version makes no distinction between all the women and all the virgins, though the writer may have intended two separate groups. All the women may refer to the king’s wives, that is, the women who were already members of his harem; and all the virgins refers to the young women brought to Susa in the search for a new queen (so Anchor Bible: “more than all his other wives; and more than all the other girls she won his favor;” also Traduction œcuménique de la Bible and Moffatt).
Royal crown: see comments on 1.11.
Made her queen: Esther is formally given the position of queen previously held by Vashti (see 1.9). Some languages will have a specific verb for making her queen, such as “installing [setting, placing, naming]” her queen.
Septuagint 2.17
The king loved Esther: the Greek verb, unlike the Hebrew verb, contains a sense of sexual love (compare Today’s English Version). The Septuagint omits the words “more than all the women” and “instead of Vashti” and uses only one word, charis favor, rather than “grace and favor” as in the Hebrew.
The Greek says literally that the king placed the diadem on her (see Septuagint 1.11); Today’s English Version makes explicit that he placed it “on her head” (so also Revised English Bible). Also, Septuagint does not say explicitly that he “made her queen” but implies it by calling it the queen’s diadem. This does not mean that he made her ruler, but rather that he gave her the official position of queen that had been held by Vashti.
Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Noss, Philip A. A Handbook on the Book of Esther — Deuterocanon: The Greek Text. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .