Esther 1
1 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 —
Now it came about in the days of Ahasuerus, (that Ahasuerus who was ruler of a hundred and twenty-seven divisions of the kingdom, from India as far as Ethiopia: )
2 in those days, at the sitting of the king Ahasuerus on the throne of his kingdom, that [is] in Shushan the palace,
That in those days, when King Ahasuerus was ruling in Shushan, his strong town,
3 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,
In the third year of his rule he gave a feast to all his captains and his servants; and the captains of the army of Persia and Media, the great men and the rulers of the divisions of his kingdom, were present before him;
4 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.
And for a long time, even a hundred and eighty days, he let them see all the wealth and the glory of his kingdom and the great power and honour which were his.
5 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 —
And at the end of that time, the king gave a feast for all the people who were present in Shushan, the king's town, small as well as great, for seven days, in the outer square of the garden of the king's house.
6 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 —
There were fair hangings of white and green and blue, fixed with cords of purple and the best linen to silver rings and pillars of polished stone: the seats were of gold and silver on a floor of red and white and yellow and black stone.
7 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.
And they gave them drink in gold vessels, every vessel being different, and wine of the kingdom, freely given by the king.
8 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.
And the drinking was in keeping with the law; no one was forced: for the king had given orders to all the chief servants of his house to do as was pleasing to every man.
9 Also Vashti the queen hath made a banquet for women, in the royal house that the king Ahasuerus hath.
And Vashti the queen gave a feast for the women in the house of King Ahasuerus.
10 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,
On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was glad with wine, he gave orders to Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, and Abagtha, Zethar, and Carcas, the seven unsexed servants who were waiting before Ahasuerus the king,
11 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,
That Vashti the queen was to come before him, crowned with her crown, and let the people and the captains see her: for she was very beautiful.
12 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.
But when the servants gave her the king's order, Vashti the queen said she would not come: then the king was very angry, and his heart was burning with wrath.
13 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 the king said to the wise men, who had knowledge of the times, (for this was the king's way with all who were expert in law and in the giving of decisions:
14 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 —
And second only to him were Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, and Memucan, the seven rulers of Persia and Media, who were friends of the king, and had the first places in the kingdom: )
15 '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?'
What is to be done by law to Vashti the queen, because she has not done what King Ahasuerus, by his servants, gave her orders to do?
16 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;
And before the king and the captains, Memucan gave his answer: Vashti the queen has done wrong, not only to the king, but to all the captains and to all the peoples in all the divisions of the kingdom of King Ahasuerus;
17 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;
For news of what the queen has done will come to the ears of all women, and they will no longer give respect to their husbands when it is said to them, King Ahasuerus gave orders for Vashti the queen to come before him and she came not.
18 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.
And the wives of the captains of Persia and Media, hearing what the queen has done, will say the same to all the king's captains. So there will be much shame and wrath.
19 '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;
If it is pleasing to the king, let an order go out from him, and let it be recorded among the laws of the Persians and the Medes, so that it may never be changed, that Vashti is never again to come before King Ahasuerus; and let the king give her place to another who is better than she.
20 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.'
And when this order, given by the king, is made public through all his kingdom (for it is great), all the wives will give honour to their husbands, great as well as small.
21 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,
And this suggestion seemed good to the king and the captains; and the king did as Memucan said;
22 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.
And sent letters to all the divisions of the kingdom, to every division in the writing commonly used there, and to every people in the language which was theirs, saying that every man was to be the ruler in his house, and that this order was to be given out in the language of his people.
