Esther

This is what happened in the days of King Ahasuerus. He was the Ahasuerus who ruled 127 provinces, stretching from India all the way to Cush.

1Now it came to pass in the days of Ahasuerus, (this is Ahasuerus which reigned, from India even unto Ethiopia, over an hundred and seven and twenty provinces:)

Note"Ahasuerus" is the Hebrew form of the Persian royal name Khshayarsha, which comes into English through Greek as Xerxes; most readers will know him as Xerxes I, who ruled Persia from about 486 to 465 BC. "Cush" (KJV "Ethiopia") is not modern Ethiopia but the land up the Nile south of Egypt, roughly today's southern Egypt and Sudan. India and Cush name the far eastern and far southwestern edges of the empire, the phrase means "from one end of it to the other." The 127 provinces are local administrative districts, not the twenty or so great satrapies into which Persian kings divided the empire at the top level.

2In those days King Ahasuerus sat on his royal throne in the fortress city of Susa.

2That in those days, when the king Ahasuerus sat on the throne of his kingdom, which was in Shushan the palace,

NoteThe KJV's "Shushan the palace" translates a phrase meaning the fortified citadel of Susa, a walled acropolis holding the palace, treasury and garrison, raised above and separate from the ordinary city below. Susa was one of several royal capitals; Persian kings moved between them with the seasons.

3In the third year of his rule, he held a feast for all his officials and staff. The army commanders of Persia and Media were there in front of him, along with the nobles and the rulers of the provinces.

3In the third year of his reign, he made a feast unto all his princes and his servants; the power of Persia and Media, the nobles and princes of the provinces, being before him:

NotePersia and Media were two related peoples. The Medes had ruled the earlier empire until the Persians took over in the sixth century BC, and the two were afterwards named together as the joint ruling class. The third year of Xerxes I would be about 483 BC.

4For 180 days in a row he put on display the great wealth of his kingdom and the splendid glory of his greatness.

4When he shewed the riches of his glorious kingdom and the honour of his excellent majesty many days, even an hundred and fourscore days.

5When those days were over, the king held a feast lasting seven days for all the people who were in the fortress city of Susa, from the most important to the least. It was held in the courtyard of the garden of the king's palace.

5And when these days were expired, the king made a feast unto all the people that were present in Shushan the palace, both unto great and small, seven days, in the court of the garden of the king’s palace;

6There were white and blue curtains hung with cords of fine linen and purple cloth on silver rings set into marble pillars. Gold and silver couches stood on a pavement of porphyry, alabaster, mother-of-pearl and colored stone.

6Where were white, green, and blue, hangings, fastened with cords of fine linen and purple to silver rings and pillars of marble: the beds were of gold and silver, upon a pavement of red, and blue, and white, and black, marble.

NoteThe "beds" of the KJV are dining couches. At a banquet of this kind guests reclined on their sides to eat and drink rather than sitting at a table. The stones of the floor are named by words whose exact reference is uncertain; ancient and modern translators have guessed variously at porphyry, alabaster, mother-of-pearl and other costly materials, and the color words in the KJV are one such guess.

7Drinks were served in gold cups, each cup different from the others, and the king's own wine was poured out freely, matching what a king could afford.

7And they gave them drink in vessels of gold, (the vessels being diverse one from another,) and royal wine in abundance, according to the state of the king.

Note"Royal wine" is wine from the king's own cellars, served to guests as a display of his generosity, ordinary hospitality would not have offered it.

8The drinking followed the king's rule that no one was to be forced. He had told every official of his household to serve each man as much as that man wanted.

8And the drinking was according to the law; none did compel: for so the king had appointed to all the officers of his house, that they should do according to every man’s pleasure.

NoteThis is the point of the verse: at a Persian royal banquet custom normally obliged every guest to drink whenever the king drank, and to keep pace with him. The king's standing order set that rule aside for this occasion.

9Queen Vashti also held a feast for the women, in the royal house that belonged to King Ahasuerus.

9Also Vashti the queen made a feast for the women in the royal house which belonged to king Ahasuerus.

NoteMen and women were entertained separately at Persian court banquets, so a queen hosting her own feast for the women was the ordinary arrangement, not a slight.

10On the seventh day, when the king was feeling good from the wine, he gave an order to Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar, and Carcas. These were the seven eunuchs who personally waited on King Ahasuerus.

10On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry with wine, he commanded Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, and Abagtha, Zethar, and Carcas, the seven chamberlains that served in the presence of Ahasuerus the king,

NoteThe KJV's "chamberlains" are eunuchs, castrated male servants. Because they could be trusted with access to the women of the royal household, they held positions of real influence at court and often carried the king's private messages, as they do here.

11He told them to bring Queen Vashti to him wearing her royal crown, so he could show the people and the officials how beautiful she was, for she was lovely to look at.

11To bring Vashti the queen before the king with the crown royal, to shew the people and the princes her beauty: for she was fair to look on.

NoteThe crown here is not a rigid metal circlet but the royal headdress, a jeweled band worn around a turban-like cap. The Hebrew says only that she was to come "with the royal crown"; ancient Jewish interpreters debated whether the command implied she was to wear it and nothing else, and the text does not settle the question.

12But Queen Vashti refused to come when the eunuchs brought the king's order. The king was furious, and his anger burned inside him.

12But the queen Vashti refused to come at the king’s commandment by his chamberlains: therefore was the king very wroth, and his anger burned in him.

13Then the king spoke to the wise men who understood the times, because it was his habit to consult everyone who knew law and legal judgment.

13Then the king said to the wise men, which knew the times, (for so was the king’s manner toward all that knew law and judgment:

Note"Wise men which knew the times" were court specialists who advised on when to act and how precedent applied, a role that mixed law, history and the reading of omens. "Law and judgment" pairs the written law with the practice of giving legal rulings.

14Closest to him were Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, and Memucan. These were the seven princes of Persia and Media who were allowed to see the king in person and who held the highest rank in the kingdom.

14And the next unto him was Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, and Memucan, the seven princes of Persia and Media, which saw the king’s face, and which sat the first in the kingdom;)

Note"Which saw the king's face" names a formal privilege of the Persian court: the right to enter the king's presence unannounced. Ordinary subjects, and even high officials without that right, could be executed for approaching uninvited.

15The king asked, "What does the law say we should do to Queen Vashti, since she did not obey the command King Ahasuerus sent by the eunuchs?"

15What shall we do unto the queen Vashti according to law, because she hath not performed the commandment of the king Ahasuerus by the chamberlains?

16Memucan answered, in front of the king and the officials, "Queen Vashti has done wrong not only to the king, but to all the officials and to all the people in every province King Ahasuerus rules.

16And Memucan answered before the king and the princes, Vashti the queen hath not done wrong to the king only, but also to all the princes, and to all the people that are in all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus.

17News of what the queen did will reach all the women, and they will look down on their husbands. They will say, 'King Ahasuerus ordered Queen Vashti to be brought to him, but she would not come.'

17For this deed of the queen shall come abroad unto all women, so that they shall despise their husbands in their eyes, when it shall be reported, The king Ahasuerus commanded Vashti the queen to be brought in before him, but she came not.

18This very day the noble women of Persia and Media who have heard what the queen did will say the same thing to all the king's officials. The result will be no end of disrespect and anger.

18Likewise shall the ladies of Persia and Media say this day unto all the king’s princes, which have heard of the deed of the queen. Thus shall there arise too much contempt and wrath.

19If it seems good to the king, let him issue a royal order, and let it be written into the laws of Persia and Media so it cannot be changed. Let it say that Vashti may never again come before King Ahasuerus, and that the king will give her position as queen to another woman who is better than she is.

19If it please the king, let there go a royal commandment from him, and let it be written among the laws of the Persians and the Medes, that it be not altered, That Vashti come no more before king Ahasuerus; and let the king give her royal estate unto another that is better than she.

NoteThat a written decree of the Persians and the Medes could not be repealed, even by the king who issued it, is a point the book of Esther returns to later, and the book of Daniel makes the same claim. No Persian source outside the Bible describes such a rule; it may reflect how the empire's law looked from the outside.

20When the king's order is announced all through his empire, and it is a huge empire, then all wives will show respect to their husbands, from the greatest of them to the least."

20And when the king’s decree which he shall make shall be published throughout all his empire, (for it is great,) all the wives shall give to their husbands honour, both to great and small.

21This advice pleased the king and his officials, and the king did what Memucan had said.

21And the saying pleased the king and the princes; and the king did according to the word of Memucan:

22He sent letters to every province in the kingdom, to each province in its own writing and to each people in its own language, saying that every man should be the master of his own household and should speak in the language of his own people.

22For he sent letters into all the king’s provinces, into every province according to the writing thereof, and to every people after their language, that every man should bear rule in his own house, and that it should be published according to the language of every people.

NoteThe empire's letters were sent out in the local script and language of each region as a matter of routine administration; Aramaic served as the common official language alongside them. The Hebrew of the last clause is obscure: it says something like "and speaking the language of his own people," which may mean that a man's own language was to be the one spoken in his household, or may be a further instruction about how the decree was to be proclaimed. Translators differ, and some ancient versions omit it.