Vashti

9Queen Vashti also gave a feast. It was for the women, in the royal palace of King Ahasuerus.

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

10On the seventh day the king felt merry from the wine. He called seven servants who waited on him: Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar, and Carcas.

On 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 King James calls these men "chamberlains." They were trusted servants who looked after the king's rooms and his family.

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

To 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 king wanted to show her off, the way he had shown off his gold and his riches.

12But Queen Vashti said no. She would not come when the servants brought the king's order. The king was very angry. His anger burned inside him.

But 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.

NoteThe King James says the king was "wroth." That is an old word for very angry.

13Then the king spoke to his wise men, who understood the times. He always asked such men about laws and about what was fair.

Then 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:

NoteWise men here means men who studied the laws. Kings asked them what the rules said.

14His closest helpers were Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, and Memucan. These seven leaders of Persia and Media could come straight to the king. They held the highest places in the kingdom.

And 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;)

NoteComing straight to the king was a big honor. Most people had to wait a long time to see him.

15The king asked them, "What does the law say to do with Queen Vashti? She did not obey the order my servants brought her."

What 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 leaders. "Queen Vashti has not only wronged the king. She has wronged all the leaders and all the people in every province."

And 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.

17"Every woman will hear what the queen did. Then they will look down on their husbands. They will say, 'The king called Queen Vashti, but she would not come.'"

For 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.

18The important women of Persia and Media have heard what the queen did. This very day they will talk the same way to all the king's officials. There will be much disrespect and much anger.

Likewise 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.

NoteThe King James says "contempt." That means treating someone as if they do not matter.

19"If it pleases the king, send out a royal order. Write it in the laws of Persia and Media, which no one is allowed to change. Say that Vashti may never come before the king again. Then give her place as queen to a better woman."

If 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.

NoteIn Persia, once a king's law was written down, even the king could not take it back.

20"The king's order will be heard all through his huge kingdom. Then every wife will honor her husband, both the important ones and the ordinary ones."

And 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.

21The king and his leaders were pleased with this advice. So the king did what Memucan said.

And 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 his kingdom. Each letter used that province's own writing and its own language. The letters said that every man should rule his own house.

For 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.

NoteDifferent lands in the kingdom spoke different languages. So each letter was written in the words that people there could read.

1Later on, King Ahasuerus stopped being angry. He thought about Vashti again. He remembered what she did and what he had ordered done to her.

After these things, when the wrath of king Ahasuerus was appeased, he remembered Vashti, and what she had done, and what was decreed against her.

NoteVashti was the king's queen before this. She had told the king no in front of his guests. He sent her away, and she could not be queen anymore.

2The men who served the king had an idea. They said, "Let us look for beautiful young women for the king."

Then said the king’s servants that ministered unto him, Let there be fair young virgins sought for the king:

3"Pick officers in every part of your kingdom. Let them bring the beautiful young women to the palace in Shushan. They will stay in the women's house. Hegai, the king's helper, will watch over them. Let the women be given beauty treatments."

And let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of his kingdom, that they may gather together all the fair young virgins unto Shushan the palace, to the house of the women, unto the custody of Hege the king’s chamberlain, keeper of the women; and let their things for purification be given them:

NoteA kingdom this big was split into parts called provinces. Shushan was the city where the king had his palace. The women's house was a big home where the king's women lived. Beauty treatments were sweet oils and perfumes for skin and hair.

4"Then the young woman you like best can be queen instead of Vashti." The king liked this plan, so he did it.

And let the maiden which pleaseth the king be queen instead of Vashti. And the thing pleased the king; and he did so.

15Then it was Esther's turn to go to the king. She was the daughter of Abihail, the uncle of Mordecai, who had raised her as his own. She asked for nothing except what Hegai told her to take. Everyone who saw Esther liked her.

Now when the turn of Esther, the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her for his daughter, was come to go in unto the king, she required nothing but what Hegai the king’s chamberlain, the keeper of the women, appointed. And Esther obtained favour in the sight of all them that looked upon her.

16Esther was brought to King Ahasuerus in his royal house. It was the tenth month, called Tebeth. It was the seventh year of the king's rule.

So Esther was taken unto king Ahasuerus into his house royal in the tenth month, which is the month Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign.

NoteTebeth was a month in the Jewish year. It came at about the same time as our December and January.

17The king loved Esther more than all the other women. He liked her more than any of the others. So he put the royal crown on her head. He made her queen instead of Vashti.

And the king loved Esther above all the women, and she obtained grace and favour in his sight more than all the virgins; so that he set the royal crown upon her head, and made her queen instead of Vashti.