| [an error occurred while processing this directive] | English Standard Version |
| 1[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 1Now in the days of Ahasuerus, the Ahasuerus who reigned from India to Ethiopia over 127 provinces, |
| 2[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 2in those days when King Ahasuerus sat on his royal throne in Susa, the citadel, |
| 3[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 3in the third year of his reign he gave a feast for all his officials and servants. The army of Persia and Media and the nobles and governors of the provinces were before him, |
| 4[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 4while he showed the riches of his royal glory and the splendor and pomp of his greatness for many days, 180 days. |
| 5[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 5And when these days were completed, the king gave for all the people present in Susa the citadel, both great and small, a feast lasting for seven days in the court of the garden of the king’s palace. |
| 6[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 6There were white cotton curtains and violet hangings fastened with cords of fine linen and purple to silver rods and marble pillars, and also couches of gold and silver on a mosaic pavement of porphyry, marble, mother-of-pearl, and precious stones. |
| 7[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 7Drinks were served in golden vessels, vessels of different kinds, and the royal wine was lavished according to the bounty of the king. |
| 8[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 8And drinking was according to this edict: “There is no compulsion.” For the king had given orders to all the staff of his palace to do as each man desired. |
| 9[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 9Queen Vashti also gave a feast for the women in the palace that belonged to King Ahasuerus. |
| 10[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 10On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry with wine, he commanded Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha and Abagtha, Zethar and Carkas, the seven eunuchs who served in the presence of King Ahasuerus, |
| 11[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 11to bring Queen Vashti before the king with her royal crown, in order to show the peoples and the princes her beauty, for she was lovely to look at. |
| 12[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 12But Queen Vashti refused to come at the king’s command delivered by the eunuchs. At this the king became enraged, and his anger burned within him. |
| 13[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 13Then the king said 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[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 14the men next to him being Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, and Memucan, the seven princes of Persia and Media, who saw the king’s face, and sat first in the kingdom): |
| 15[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 15“According to the law, what is to be done to Queen Vashti, because she has not performed the command of King Ahasuerus delivered by the eunuchs?” |
| 16[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 16Then Memucan said in the presence of the king and the officials, “Not only against the king has Queen Vashti done wrong, but also against all the officials and all the peoples who are in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus. |
| 17[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 17For the queen’s behavior will be made known to all women, causing them to look at their husbands with contempt, since they will say, ‘King Ahasuerus commanded Queen Vashti to be brought before him, and she did not come.’ |
| 18[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 18This very day the noble women of Persia and Media who have heard of the queen’s behavior will say the same to all the king’s officials, and there will be contempt and wrath in plenty. |
| 19[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 19If it please the king, let a royal order go out from him, and let it be written among the laws of the Persians and the Medes so that it may not be repealed, that Vashti is never again to come before King Ahasuerus. And let the king give her royal position to another who is better than she. |
| 20[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 20So when the decree made by the king is proclaimed throughout all his kingdom, for it is vast, all women will give honor to their husbands, high and low alike.” |
| 21[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 21This advice pleased the king and the princes, and the king did as Memucan proposed. |
| 22[an error occurred while processing this directive] | 22He 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 master in his own household and speak according to the language of his people. |
| [an error occurred while processing this directive] | ESV Text Edition: 2016. The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved. |
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