Estĕr (Esther) 1

¹And it came to be in the days of Aḥashwĕrosh – he is the Aḥashwĕrosh who reigned from India to Kush, a hundred and twenty-seven provinces –

²in those days, when Sovereign Aḥashwĕrosh sat on the throne of his reign, which was in the citadel of Shushan,

³that in the third year of his reign he made a feast for all his officials and servants. The power of Persia and Media, the nobles and the princes of the provinces were before him,

⁴when he showed the riches of his esteemed reign and the splendour of his excellent greatness for many days, a hundred and eighty days.

⁵And when these days were completed, the sovereign made a feast lasting seven days for all the people who were present in the citadel of Shushan, from great to small, in the courtyard of the garden of the sovereign’s palace.

⁶White and blue tapestries were fastened with cords of fine linen and purple on silver rods and marble columns – the couches were of gold and silver on a mosaic pavement of porphyry, marble, mother-of-pearl, and black marble.

⁷And they served drinks in golden vessels, the vessels being different from one another, with much royal wine, according to the hand of the sovereign.

⁸And drinking was according to the law, no one was compelled, for so the sovereign had ordered all the officers of his house, that they should do according to each one’s pleasure.

⁹Sovereigness Vashti also made a feast for the women in the royal palace which Sovereign Aḥashwĕrosh owned.

¹⁰On the seventh day, when the heart of the sovereign was glad with wine, he ordered Mehuman, Biztha, Ḥarḇona, Biḡtha, and Aḇaḡtha, Zĕthar, and Karkas, the seven eunuchs who were in attendance in the presence of Sovereign Aḥashwĕrosh,

¹¹to bring Sovereigness Vashti before the sovereign, with her royal crown, in order to show her loveliness to the people and the officials, for she was lovely to look upon.

¹²But Sovereigness Vashti refused to come at the sovereign’s command brought by his eunuchs. And the sovereign was very wroth, and his rage burned within him.

¹³So the sovereign said to the wise men who understood the times (for in this way the sovereign’s matter came before all who knew law and right-ruling,

¹⁴and who were close to him: Karshena, Shĕthar, Aḏmatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, Memuḵan, the seven princes of Persia and Media, who saw the sovereign’s face, who sat first in the reign):

¹⁵“According to law, what is to be done to Sovereigness Vashti, because she did not perform the command of Sovereign Aḥashwĕrosh, through the eunuchs?”

¹⁶And Memuḵan answered before the sovereign and the princes, “Sovereigness Vashti has misbehaved not only toward the sovereign, but also toward all the princes, and all the people who are in all the provinces of Sovereign Aḥashwĕrosh.

¹⁷“For the matter of the sovereigness shall go forth to all women, to make their husbands despised in their eyes, when they say, ‘Sovereign Aḥashwĕrosh commanded Sovereigness Vashti to be brought in before him, but she did not come.’

¹⁸“And this day the princesses of Persia and Media shall say to all the sovereign’s officials that they have heard of the matter of the sovereigness – with plenty of scorn and wrath.

¹⁹“If it pleases the sovereign, let a royal decree go out from him, and let it be recorded in the laws of the Persians and the Medes, so that it does not pass away, that Vashti shall come no more before Sovereign Aḥashwĕrosh. And let the sovereign give her royal position to another who is better than she.

²⁰“And the sovereign’s decree which he makes shall be proclaimed throughout all his rule, great as it is, and all the wives give esteem to their husbands, both great and small.”

²¹And the word was good in the eyes of the sovereign and the princes, and the sovereign did according to the word of Memuḵan.

²²So he sent letters to all the sovereign’s provinces, to each province in its own writing, and to every people in their own language, that each man should be master in his own house and speak in the language of his people.