And he had brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle's daughter: for she had neither father nor mother, and the maiden was fair and beautiful; whom Mordecai, when her father and mother were dead, took as his own daughter.
All Commentaries on Esther 2:7 Go To Esther 2
George Leo Haydock
AD 1849
Brothers. Josephus, ( xi. 6.) the old Latin version of the Syriac, Abenezra, suppose that Mardochai was uncle to Esther. But the Hebrew, Syriac, Greek, and Chaldean assert that he was only her cousin. Septuagint, "daughter of Amina dab, (or rather Abihail, ver. 15.) his father's brother, and her name was Esther; and after her parents were dead, he educated her for a wife "eis gunaika, as some Rabbins also maintain, believing she was an heiress. Yet other Greek copies, Hebrew, read, "he educated her as a daughter, thugatera: for the damsel was very beautiful. "He had probably adopted her. (Calmet)
Edissa. Hebrew hadassa, (Haydock) or Hadassah, signified "of myrtle. "(Menochius)
Esther, "a sheep. "(Calmet)