King James Version › Esther › 1

Esther

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1 Now 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:) 2 That in those days, when the king Aha­suerus sat on the throne of his king­dom, which was in Shushan the palace, 3 In 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: 4 When he shewed the rich­es of his glo­ri­ous king­dom and the hon­our of his ex­cel­lent majesty many days, even an hun­dred and fourscore days. 5 And 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; 6 Where 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. 7 And 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. 8 And 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. 9 Also Vashti the queen made a feast for the wom­en in the roy­al house which belonged to king Aha­suerus. 10 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, 11 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. 12 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. 13 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: 14 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;) 15 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? 16 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 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. 18 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. 19 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. 20 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. 21 And the say­ing pleased the king and the princes; and the king did ac­cord­ing to the word of Memu­can: 22 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.