以斯帖记 1
1 亚哈随鲁作王，从印度直到古实，统管一百二十七省。
And it cometh to pass, in the days of Ahasuerus — he [is] Ahasuerus who is reigning from Hodu even unto Cush, seven and twenty and a hundred provinces —
2 亚哈随鲁王在书珊城的宫登基；
in those days, at the sitting of the king Ahasuerus on the throne of his kingdom, that [is] in Shushan the palace,
3 在位第三年，为他一切首领臣仆设摆筵席，有波斯和米底亚的权贵，就是各省的贵胄与首领，在他面前。
in the third year of his reign, he hath made a banquet to all his heads and his servants; of the force of Persia and Media, the chiefs and heads of the provinces [are] before him,
4 他把他荣耀之国的丰富和他美好威严的尊贵给他们看了许多日，就是一百八十日。
in his shewing the wealth of the honour of his kingdom, and the glory of the beauty of his greatness, many days — eighty and a hundred days.
5 这日子满了，又为所有住书珊城的大小人民在御园的院子里设摆筵席七日。
And at the fulness of these days hath the king made to all the people who are found in Shushan the palace, from great even unto small, a banquet, seven days, in the court of the garden of the house of the king —
6 有白色、绿色、蓝色的帐子，用细麻绳、紫色绳从银环内系在白玉石柱上；有金银的床榻摆在红、白、黄、黑玉石的铺石地上。
white linen, white cotton, and blue, fastened with cords of fine linen and purple on rings of silver, and pillars of marble, couches of gold, and of silver, on a pavement of smaragdus, and white marble, and mother-of-pearl, and black marble —
7 用金器皿赐酒，器皿各有不同。御酒甚多，足显王的厚意。
and the giving of drink in vessels of gold, and the vessels [are] divers vessels, and the royal wine [is] abundant, as a memorial of the king.
8 喝酒有例，不准勉强人，因王吩咐宫里的一切臣宰，让人各随己意。
And the drinking [is] according to law, none is pressing, for so hath the king appointed for every chief one of his house, to do according to the pleasure of man and man.
9 王后瓦实提在亚哈随鲁王的宫内也为妇女设摆筵席。
Also Vashti the queen hath made a banquet for women, in the royal house that the king Ahasuerus hath.
10 第七日，亚哈随鲁王饮酒，心中快乐，就吩咐在他面前侍立的七个太监米户幔、比斯他、哈波拿、比革他、亚拔他、西达、甲迦，
On the seventh day, as the heart of the king is glad with wine, he hath said to Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, and Abagtha, Zethar, and Carcas, the seven eunuchs who are ministering in the presence of the king Ahasuerus,
11 请王后瓦实提头戴王后的冠冕到王面前，使各等臣民看她的美貌，因为她容貌甚美。
to bring in Vashti the queen before the king, with a royal crown, to shew the peoples and the heads her beauty, for she [is] of good appearance,
12 王后瓦实提却不肯遵太监所传的王命而来，所以王甚发怒，心如火烧。
and the queen Vashti refuseth to come in at the word of the king that [is] by the hand of the eunuchs, and the king is very wroth, and his fury hath burned in him.
13 那时，在王左右常见王面、国中坐高位的，有波斯和米底亚的七个大臣，就是甲示拿、示达、押玛他、他施斯、米力、玛西拿、米母干，都是达时务的明哲人。按王的常规，办事必先询问知例明法的人。王问他们说：
And the king saith to wise men, knowing the times — for so [is] the word of the king before all knowing law and judgment,
and he who is near unto him [is] Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, Memucan, seven heads of Persia and Media seeing the face of the king, who are sitting first in the kingdom —
15 “王后瓦实提不遵太监所传的王命，照例应当怎样办理呢？”
'According to law, what — to do with queen Vashti, because that she hath not done the saying of the king Ahasuerus by the hand of the eunuchs?'
16 米母干在王和众首领面前回答说：“王后瓦实提这事，不但得罪王，并且有害于王各省的臣民；
And Memucan saith before the king and the heads, 'Not against the king by himself hath Vashti the queen done perversely, but against all the heads, and against all the peoples that [are] in all provinces of the king Ahasuerus;
17 因为王后这事必传到众妇人的耳中，说：‘亚哈随鲁王吩咐王后瓦实提到王面前，她却不来’，她们就藐视自己的丈夫。
for go forth doth the word of the queen unto all the women, to render their husbands contemptible in their eyes, in their saying, The king Ahasuerus said to bring in Vashti the queen before him, and she did not come;
18 今日波斯和米底亚的众夫人听见王后这事，必向王的大臣照样行；从此必大开藐视和忿怒之端。
yea, this day do princesses of Persia and Media, who have heard the word of the queen, say [so] to all heads of the king, even according to the sufficiency of contempt and wrath.
19 王若以为美，就降旨写在波斯和米底亚人的例中，永不更改，不准瓦实提再到王面前，将她王后的位分赐给比她还好的人。
'If to the king [it be] good, there goeth forth a royal word from before him, and it is written with the laws of Persia and Media, and doth not pass away, that Vashti doth not come in before the king Ahasuerus, and her royalty doth the king give to her companion who [is] better than she;
20 所降的旨意传遍通国（国度本来广大），所有的妇人，无论丈夫贵贱都必尊敬他。”
and the sentence of the king that he maketh hath been heard in all his kingdom — for it [is] great — and all the wives give honour to their husbands, from great even unto small.'
21 王和众首领都以米母干的话为美，王就照这话去行，
And the thing is good in the eyes of the king, and of the princes, and the king doth according to the word of Memucan,
22 发诏书，用各省的文字、各族的方言通知各省，使为丈夫的在家中作主，各说本地的方言。
and sendeth letters unto all provinces of the king, unto province and province according to its writing, and unto people and people according to its tongue, for every man being head in his own house — and speaking according to the language of his people.
