Esther 2:19

Now when the young women were being gathered again, ¹  Mordecai was sitting at the king’s gate. ² 

When the virgins were assembled a second time, Mordecai was sitting at the king’s gate.

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

Even after all the young women had been transferred to the second harem and Mordecai had become a palace official,

On one of the occasions when the virgins were being gathered together, Mordecai was sitting at the King's Gate.

And when the virgins came together in the second house of the women, Mordecai took his seat in the doorway of the king’s house.

When the virgins were being gathered together, Mordecai was sitting at the king’s gate.

When virgins were gathered together a second time, Mordecai sat within the king’s gate.

Now when the young women were being gathered again, ¹  Mordecai was sitting at the king’s gate. ² 

¹ tc The LXX does not include the words “Now when the young women were being gathered again.” The Hebrew word שֵׁנִית (shenit, “a second time”) is difficult in v. 19, but apparently it refers to a subsequent regathering of the women to the harem.

² sn That Mordecai was sitting at the king’s gate apparently means that he was a high-ranking government official. It was at the city gate where important business was transacted. Being in this position afforded Mordecai an opportunity to become aware of the plot against the king’s life, although the author does not include the particular details of how this information first came to Mordecai’s attention.