Greek Esther 1:10-22

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

Dismissal of Queen Vashti

¹⁰ On the seventh day, when the king was in good humor, he told Haman, Bazan, Tharra, Boraze, Zatholtha, Abataza, and Tharaba, the seven eunuchs who served King Artaxerxes,^{(A) 11} to escort the queen to him in order to proclaim her as queen and to place the diadem on her head and to have her display her beauty to all the governors and the people of various nations, for she was indeed a beautiful woman.^{(B) 12} But Queen Vashti refused to obey him and would not come with the eunuchs. This offended the king, and he became furious. ¹³ He said to his Friends, “This is how Vashti has answered me.^[a] Give, therefore, your ruling and judgment on this matter.” ¹⁴ Arkesaeus, Sarsathaeus, and Malesear, the governors of the Persians and Medes who were closest to the king, who sat beside him in the chief seats, came to him^{(C) 15} and told him what, according to the law, was to be done to Queen Vashti for not obeying the order that the king had sent her by the eunuchs. ¹⁶ Then Muchaeus said to the king and the governors, “Queen Vashti has wronged not only the king but also all the king’s governors and officials” ¹⁷ (for he had reported to them what the queen had said and how she had defied the king). “And just as she defied King Artaxerxes, ¹⁸ so now the other noble wives of the Persian and Median governors, on hearing what she has said to the king, will likewise dare to dishonor their husbands. ¹⁹ If, therefore, it pleases the king, let him issue a royal decree, inscribed in accordance with the laws of the Medes and Persians so that it may not be altered, that the queen may no longer come into his presence, and let the king give her royal rank to a woman better than she.^{(D) 20} Let whatever law the king enacts be proclaimed in his kingdom, and thus all women will give honor to their husbands, rich and poor alike.”^{(E) 21} This speech pleased the king and the governors, and the king did as Muchaeus had recommended. ²² The king sent the decree^[b] into all his kingdom, to every province in its own language, so that men would be feared in their households.^(F)