Esther 1:13-2:4

New King James Version

¹³Then the king said to the ^(A)wise men ^(B)who understood the times (for this was the king’s manner toward all who knew law and justice, ¹⁴those closest to him being Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, and Memucan, the ^(C)seven princes of Persia and Media, ^(D)who had access to the king’s presence, and who ^[a]ranked highest in the kingdom): ¹⁵“What shall we do to Queen Vashti, according to law, because she did not obey the command of King Ahasuerus brought to her by the eunuchs?”

¹⁶And Memucan answered before the king and the princes: “Queen Vashti has not only wronged the king, but also all the princes, and all the people who are in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus. ¹⁷For the queen’s behavior will become known to all women, so that they will ^(E)despise their husbands in their eyes, when they report, ‘King Ahasuerus commanded Queen Vashti to be brought in before him, but she did not come.’ ¹⁸This very day the noble ladies of Persia and Media will say to all the king’s officials that they have heard of the behavior of the queen. Thus there will be excessive contempt and wrath. ¹⁹If it pleases the king, let a royal ^[b]decree go out from him, and let it be recorded in the laws of the Persians and the Medes, so that it will ^(F)not ^[c]be altered, that Vashti shall come no more before King Ahasuerus; and let the king give her royal position to another who is better than she. ²⁰When the king’s decree which he will make is proclaimed throughout all his empire (for it is great), all wives will ^(G)honor their husbands, both great and small.”

²¹And the reply pleased the king and the princes, and the king did according to the word of Memucan. ²²Then he sent letters to all the king’s provinces, ^(H)to each province in its own script, and to every people in their own language, that each man should ^(I)be master in his own house, and speak in the language of his own people.

Esther Becomes Queen

2 After these things, when the wrath of King Ahasuerus subsided, he remembered Vashti, ^(J)what she had done, and what had been decreed against her. ²Then the king’s servants who attended him said: “Let beautiful young virgins be sought for the king; ³and let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of his kingdom, that they may gather all the beautiful young virgins to ^[d]Shushan the ^[e]citadel, into the women’s quarters, under the custody of ^[f]Hegai the king’s eunuch, custodian of the women. And let beauty preparations be given them. ⁴Then let the young woman who pleases the king be queen instead of Vashti.”