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Esther Chapter One

Biblical Text

1: It was in the days of Ahashveirosh, the Ahashveirosh who reigned from India to Ethiopia over one hundred and twenty-seven provinces.

2: In those days King Ahashveirosh sat on his royal throne in Shushan the capital.

3: In the third year of his being king he gave a banquet for all his princes and servants. The army chiefs of Persia and Media and the important people and governors of the provinces were all there.

4: He showed the riches of his royal glory and the splendor and pomp of his majesty for many days. Actually, it was for a hundred and eighty days.

5: And when these days were completed, the king gave for all the people present in Shushan the capital, both great and small, a banquet lasting for seven days, in the court of the garden of the king's palace.

6: There were white cotton curtains and blue hangings arranged with cords of fine linen and purple thread hung on silver rings. There were marble pillars and also couches of gold and silver resting on a mosaic pavement of alibaster, marble, mother-of-pearl, and precious stones.

7: Drinks were served in golden goblets, goblets of different kinds, and the royal wine was lavished according to the bounty of the king.

8: And drinking was according to the law; no restrictions!, for the king had given orders to all the officials of his palace to do as every man desired.

9: Queen Vashti also gave a banquet for the women in the palace which belonged to King Ahashveirosh.

10: On the seventh day, when the king was happy with wine, he commanded Mehu'man, Biztha, Harbo'na, Bigtha and Abag'tha, Zethar and Carkas, the seven eunuchs who served King Ahasu-e'rus as chamberlains,

11: to bring Queen Vashti before the king with her royal diadem, in order to show the peoples and the princes her beauty; for she was beautiful.

12: But Queen Vashti refused to come at the king's command conveyed by the eunuchs. At this the king was angry, and his anger burned hot.

13: Then the king talked to the wise men who knew the times -- for this was the king's procedure toward all who were versed in law and judgment,

14: (the men closest to the king were: Carshe'na, Shethar, Adma'tha, Tarshish, Meres, Marse'na, and Memu'can, the seven princes of Persia and Media):

15: "According to the law, what is to be done to Queen Vashti, because she has not performed the command of King Ahashveirosh conveyed by the eunuchs?"

16: Then Memu'can said in presence of the king and the princes, "Not only to the king has Queen Vashti done wrong, but also to all the princes and all the peoples who are in all the provinces of King Ahashveirosh.

17: For this deed of the queen will be advertised to all women, causing them to look with disgust upon their husbands, since they will say, `King Ahashveirosh commanded Queen Vashti to be brought before him, and she did not come.'

18: This very day the women of Persia and Media who have heard of the queen's behavior will be telling it to all the king's princes, and there will be much contempt and wrath.

19: If it please the king, let a royal order go forth from him, and let it be written among the laws of the Persians and the Medes so that it may not be changed, that Vashti is to come no more before King Ahashveirosh; and let the king give her royal position to another who is better than she.

20: So when the decree made by the king is proclaimed throughout all his kingdom, vast as it is, all women will give honor to their husbands, high and low."

21: This advice pleased the king and the princes, and the king did as Memu'can proposed;

22: he sent letters to all the royal provinces, to every province in its own script and to every people in its own language, that every man be lord in his own house and speak according to the language of his people.