Vashti Angers the King

1 These events took place during the days of Ahasuerus,^(A) who ruled 127 provinces^(B) from India to Cush. ² In those days King Ahasuerus reigned from his royal throne^(C) in the fortress at Susa.^{(D) 3} He held a feast^(E) in the third year of his reign for all his officials and staff, the army of Persia and Media,^(F) the nobles,^(G) and the officials from the provinces. ⁴ He displayed the glorious wealth of his kingdom and the magnificent splendor of his greatness^(H) for a total of 180 days.

⁵ At the end of this time, the king held a week-long banquet^(I) in the garden courtyard^(J) of the royal palace^(K) for all the people, from the greatest to the least,^(L) who were present in the fortress of Susa.^{(M) 6} White and blue linen hangings were fastened with fine white and purple linen cords to silver rods on marble^[a] columns. Gold and silver couches^(N) were arranged on a mosaic pavement of red feldspar,^[b] marble, mother-of-pearl, and precious stones.

⁷ Drinks were served in an array of gold goblets,^(O) each with a different design. Royal wine flowed freely, according to the king’s bounty.^{(P) 8} The drinking was according to royal decree: “There are no restrictions.” The king had ordered every wine steward in his household to serve whatever each person wanted. ⁹ Queen Vashti also gave a feast for the women of King Ahasuerus’s palace.

¹⁰ On the seventh day, when the king was feeling good from the wine,^(Q) Ahasuerus commanded Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona,^(R) Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar, and Carkas—the seven eunuchs^(S) who personally served him— ¹¹ to bring Queen Vashti before him with her royal crown. He wanted to show off her beauty to the people and the officials, because she was very beautiful.^{(T) 12} But Queen Vashti refused to come at the king’s command that was delivered by his eunuchs. The king became furious and his anger burned within him.^(U)

The King’s Decree

¹³ The king consulted the wise men^(V) who understood the times,^[c](W) for it was his normal procedure to confer with experts in law and justice. ¹⁴ The most trusted ones^[d] were Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, and Memucan. They were the seven officials^(X) of Persia and Media^(Y) who had personal access to the king^(Z) and occupied the highest positions in the kingdom.^{(AA) 15} The king asked, “According to the law, what should be done with Queen Vashti, since she refused to obey King Ahasuerus’s command that was delivered by the eunuchs?”

¹⁶ Memucan said in the presence of the king and his officials, “Queen Vashti has wronged not only the king, but all the officials and the peoples who are in every one of King Ahasuerus’s provinces.^{(AB) 17} For the queen’s action will become public knowledge to all the women and cause them to despise their husbands and say, ‘King Ahasuerus ordered Queen Vashti brought before him, but she did not come.’ ¹⁸ Before this day is over, the noble women of Persia and Media who hear about the queen’s act will say the same thing to all the king’s officials, resulting in more contempt and fury.

¹⁹ “If it meets the king’s approval, he should personally issue a royal decree. Let it be recorded in the laws of the Persians and the Medes, so that it cannot be revoked:^(AC) Vashti is not to enter King Ahasuerus’s presence, and her royal position is to be given to another woman who is more worthy than she.^{(AD) 20} The decree the king issues will be heard throughout his vast kingdom,^(AE) so all women will honor their husbands,^(AF) from the greatest to the least.”^(AG)

²¹ The king and his counselors approved the proposal, and he followed Memucan’s advice. ²² He sent letters to all the royal provinces, to each province in its own script and to each ethnic group in its own language,^(AH) that every man should be master of his own house and speak in the language of his own people.

The Search for a New Queen

2 Some time later,^(AI) when King Ahasuerus’s rage^(AJ) had cooled down, he remembered Vashti, what she had done, and what was decided against her.^{(AK) 2} The king’s personal attendants suggested, “Let a search be made for beautiful young virgins for the king.^{(AL) 3} Let the king appoint commissioners^(AM) in each province of his kingdom, so that they may gather all the beautiful young virgins to the harem at the fortress of Susa.^(AN) Put them under the supervision of Hegai, the king’s eunuch,^(AO) keeper of the women,^(AP) and give them the required beauty treatments. ⁴ Then the young woman who pleases the king^(AQ) will become queen instead of Vashti.”^(AR) This suggestion pleased the king, and he did accordingly.

⁵ In the fortress of Susa, there was a Jewish man named Mordecai^(AS) son of Jair, son of Shimei,^(AT) son of Kish,^(AU) a Benjaminite. ⁶ Kish^[e] had been taken into exile from Jerusalem with the other captives when King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon took King Jeconiah of Judah into exile.^{(AV) 7} Mordecai was the legal guardian of his cousin^[f] Hadassah (that is, Esther), because she had no father or mother. The young woman had a beautiful figure and was extremely good-looking. When her father and mother died, Mordecai had adopted her as his own daughter.^(AW)

⁸ When the king’s command and edict became public knowledge and when many young women were gathered at the fortress of Susa under Hegai’s supervision, Esther was taken to the palace, into the supervision of Hegai, keeper of the women. ⁹ The young woman pleased him and gained his favor so that he accelerated the process of the beauty treatments and the special diet that she received. He assigned seven hand-picked female servants to her from the palace and transferred her and her servants to the harem’s best quarters.

¹⁰ Esther did not reveal her ethnicity or her family background, because Mordecai had ordered her not to make them known. ¹¹ Every day Mordecai took a walk in front of the harem’s courtyard to learn how Esther was doing and to see what was happening to her.

¹² During the year before each young woman’s turn to go to King Ahasuerus, the harem regulation required her to receive beauty treatments with oil of myrrh for six months and then with perfumes and cosmetics for another six months. ¹³ When the young woman would go to the king, she was given whatever she requested to take with her from the harem to the palace. ¹⁴ She would go in the evening, and in the morning she would return to a second harem under the supervision of the king’s eunuch Shaashgaz, keeper of the concubines.^(AX) She never went to the king again, unless he desired her and summoned her by name.^(AY)

Esther Becomes Queen

¹⁵ Esther was the daughter of Abihail,^(AZ) the uncle of Mordecai who had adopted her as his own daughter. When her turn came to go to the king, she did not ask for anything except what Hegai, the king’s eunuch, keeper of the women, suggested. Esther gained favor in the eyes of everyone who saw her.^(BA)

¹⁶ She was taken to King Ahasuerus in the palace in the tenth month, the month Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign.^{(BB) 17} The king loved Esther more than all the other women. She won more favor and approval from him than did any of the other virgins. He placed the royal crown on her head and made her queen in place of Vashti.^{(BC) 18} The king held a great banquet for all his officials and staff.^(BD) It was Esther’s banquet. He freed his provinces from tax payments and gave gifts worthy of the king’s bounty.^(BE)

Mordecai Saves the King

¹⁹ When the virgins^(BF) were gathered a second time, Mordecai was sitting at the King’s Gate.^{(BG) 20} Esther still did not reveal her family background or her ethnicity, as Mordecai had directed. She obeyed Mordecai’s orders, as she always had while he raised her.

²¹ During those days while Mordecai was sitting at the King’s Gate, Bigthan and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs^(BH) who guarded the entrance, became infuriated and planned to assassinate^[g] King Ahasuerus. ²² When Mordecai learned of the plot, he reported it to Queen Esther, and she told the king on Mordecai’s behalf.^{(BI) 23} When the report was investigated and verified, both men were hanged on the gallows.^(BJ) This event was recorded in the Historical Record in the king’s presence.

A Short Ministry in Thessalonica

17 After they passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica,^(A) where there was a Jewish synagogue. ² As usual, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days reasoned with them from the Scriptures,^{(B) 3} explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Messiah to suffer and rise from the dead: “This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah.”^{(C) 4} Some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, including a large number of God-fearing Greeks, as well as a number of the leading women.^(D)

Riot in the City

⁵ But the Jews became jealous, and they brought together some wicked men from the marketplace, formed a mob, and started a riot in the city. Attacking Jason’s house, they searched for them to bring them out to the public assembly.^{(E) 6} When they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city officials, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here too, ⁷ and Jason has welcomed them. They are all acting contrary to Caesar’s decrees,^(F) saying that there is another king—Jesus.”^{(G) 8} The crowd and city officials who heard these things were upset. ⁹ After taking a security bond from Jason and the others, they released them.

The Bereans Search the Scriptures

¹⁰ As soon as it was night, the brothers and sisters sent Paul and Silas away to Berea.^(H) Upon arrival, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. ¹¹ The people here were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, since they received the word with eagerness and examined^[a] the Scriptures^(I) daily to see if these things were so. ¹² Consequently, many of them believed, including a number of the prominent Greek women as well as men. ¹³ But when the Jews from Thessalonica found out that the word of God had been proclaimed by Paul at Berea, they came there too, agitating and upsetting^[b] the crowds. ¹⁴ Then the brothers and sisters immediately sent Paul away to go to the coast, but Silas and Timothy^(J) stayed on there. ¹⁵ Those who escorted Paul brought him as far as Athens, and after receiving instructions for Silas and Timothy to come to him as quickly as possible, they departed.^(K)

Paul in Athens

¹⁶ While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was deeply distressed when he saw that the city was full of idols. ¹⁷ So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with those who worshiped God, as well as in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there.^{(L) 18} Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also debated with him. Some said, “What is this ignorant show-off^[c] trying to say?”

Others replied, “He seems to be a preacher of foreign deities”—because he was telling the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.^(M)

¹⁹ They took him and brought him to the Areopagus,^[d] and said, “May we learn about this new teaching you are presenting?^{(N) 20} Because what you say sounds strange to us, and we want to know what these things mean.” ²¹ Now all the Athenians and the foreigners residing there spent their time on nothing else but telling or hearing something new.

The Areopagus Address

²² Paul stood in the middle of the Areopagus and said, “People of Athens! I see that you are extremely religious in every respect. ²³ For as I was passing through and observing the objects of your worship, I even found an altar on which was inscribed, ‘To an Unknown God.’ Therefore, what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you. ²⁴ The God who made the world and everything in it^(O)—he is Lord of heaven and earth^(P)—does not live in shrines made by hands.^{(Q) 25} Neither is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything,^(R) since he himself gives everyone life and breath and all things.^{(S) 26} From one man^[e] he has made every nationality to live over the whole earth and has determined their appointed times and the boundaries of where they live.^{(T) 27} He did this so that they might seek God, and perhaps they might reach out and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.^{(U) 28} For in him we live and move and have our being, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also his offspring.’^{(V) 29} Since, then, we are God’s offspring, we shouldn’t think that the divine nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image fashioned by human art and imagination.^(W)

³⁰ “Therefore, having overlooked^(X) the times of ignorance, God now commands all people everywhere to repent, ³¹ because he has set a day when he is going to judge the world in righteousness by the man he has appointed. He has provided proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”^(Y)

³² When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some began to ridicule him, but others said, “We’d like to hear from you again about this.” ³³ So Paul left their presence. ³⁴ However, some people joined him and believed, including Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others with them.