¹It happened in the days of Ahasuerus — the same Ahasuerus who reigned from India to Cush over a hundred and twenty-seven provinces.

²In those days, when the king Ahasuerus sat on the throne of his kingdom, which was in Susa the citadel,

³In the third year of his reign, he made a feast for all his officials and his slaves — the army of Persia and Media, the nobles and the officials of the provinces — before his face.

⁴When he showed the wealth of his kingdom's weightiness and the precious beauty of his greatness, for many days — a hundred and eighty days.

⁵And when these days were completed, the king made, for all the people who were found in Susa the citadel, from great to small, a feast of seven days in the courtyard of the garden of the king's palace.

⁶White cloth, cotton, and violet, held by cords of fine linen and purple on rods of silver and pillars of marble; couches of gold and silver on a pavement of porphyry, marble, pearl, and black tile.

⁷And they gave drink in vessels of gold, vessels differing one from another, and the wine of the kingdom was plentiful, according to the king's hand.

⁸And the drinking was according to the decree: no one was compelling. For so the king had established over all the great ones of his house, to do according to the pleasure of each man.

⁹Also Vashti the queen made a feast for women in the royal house that belonged to the king Ahasuerus.

¹⁰On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was glad with wine, he said to Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar, and Carcas, the seven eunuchs who served before the face of the king Ahasuerus,

¹¹to bring Vashti the queen before the king's face, with the royal crown, to show the peoples and the officials her beauty, for she was good to look at.

¹²And the queen Vashti refused to come at the word of the king that was by the hand of the eunuchs; and the king was exceedingly angry, and his rage burned in him.

¹³The king said to the wise men who knew the times — for so was the word of the king before all who knew law and judgment —

¹⁴And those nearest to him were Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, Memucan, the seven officials of Persia and Media, who saw the face of the king, who sat first in the kingdom:

¹⁵According to the law, what is to be done with the queen Vashti, because she did not do the command of the king Ahasuerus by the hand of the eunuchs?

¹⁶And Memucan said before the king and the officials: Not against the king alone has Vashti the queen acted crookedly, but against all the officials and against all the peoples who are in all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus.

¹⁷For the word of the queen will go out to all the women, making their husbands despised in their eyes, when they say: The king Ahasuerus said to bring Vashti the queen before his face, and she did not come.

¹⁸And this day the noble ladies of Persia and Media who have heard the word of the queen will say as much to all the officials of the king — and there will be contempt and wrath enough.

¹⁹If it is agreeable to the king, let a royal word go out from his face, and let it be written in the laws of Persia and Media, and not pass away, that Vashti shall not come before the king Ahasuerus; and let the king give her royalty to her fellow woman, the one better than she.

²⁰And the edict of the king which he will make will be heard in all his kingdom — for it is great — and all the women will give honor to their husbands, from great to small.

²¹The word was good in the eyes of the king and the officials, and the king did according to the word of Memucan.

²²He sent letters to all the provinces of the king, to each province in its own writing and to each people in its own tongue, that every man should be ruling in his house and speaking according to the tongue of his people.