Mordecai’s Dream

^1a In the second year when Artaxerxes the Great was reigning, on the first day of Nisan, Mordecai son of Jair, son of Shimei, son of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin, had a dream.

^1b He was a Jew, dwelling in the city of Susa, a great man, serving in the court of the king.

^1c He was one of the captives whom King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had brought from Jerusalem with King Jeconiah of Judea. And this was his dream:

^1d Behold, noise and confusion, thunders and earthquake, tumult upon the earth!

^1e And behold, two great dragons came forward, both ready to fight, and they roared terribly.

^1f And at their roaring every nation prepared for war, to fight against the nation of the righteous.

^1g And behold, a day of darkness and gloom, tribulation and distress, affliction and great tumult upon the earth!

^1h And the whole righteous nation was troubled; they feared the evils that threatened themselves and were ready to perish.

¹ⁱ Then they cried to God; and from their cry, as though from a tiny spring, there came a great river, with abundant water;

^1k light came, and the sun rose, and the lowly were exalted and consumed those held in honor. ^1l Mordecai saw in this dream what God had determined to do, and after he awoke he had it on his mind and sought all day to under stand it in every detail. Plot against the King

^1m Now Mordecai took his rest in the courtyard with Gabatha and Tharra, the two eunuchs of the king who kept watch in the courtyard.

¹ⁿ He overheard their conversation and inquired into their purposes and learned that they were preparing to lay hands upon King Artaxerxes; and he informed the king concerning them.

^1o Then the king examined the two eunuchs, and when they confessed they were led to execution.

^1p The king made a permanent record of these things, and Mordecai wrote an account of them.

^1q And the king ordered Mordecai to serve in the court and rewarded him for these things.

^1r But Haman son of Hamadathos, a Bougean, was in great honor with the king, and he sought to injure Mordecai and his people because of the two eunuchs of the king.

The King’s Banquets

¹ Now in the days of Ahasuerus, the Ahasuerus who reigned from India to Ethiopia over one hundred twenty-seven provinces,

² in those days when King Ahasuerus sat on his royal throne in Susa, the citadel,

³ in the third year of his reign he gave a feast for all his officials and servants. The army of Persia and Media and the nobles and governors of the provinces were before him,

⁴ while he showed the riches of his royal glory and the splendour and pomp of his greatness for many days, one hundred eighty days.

⁵ And when these days were completed, the king gave for all the people present in Susa the citadel, both great and small, a feast lasting for seven days in the court of f the garden of the king’s palace.

⁶ There were white cotton curtains and violet hangings fastened with cords of fine linen and purple to silver rods and marble pillars, and also g couches of gold and silver on a mosaic pavement of porphyry, marble, mother-of-pearl, and precious stones.

⁷ Drinks were served in golden vessels, vessels of different kinds, and the royal wine was lavished according to the bounty of the king.

⁸ And drinking was according to this edict: “There is no compulsion.” For the king had given orders to all the staff of his palace to do as each man desired.

⁹ Queen Vashti also gave a feast for the women in the palace that belonged to King Ahasuerus.

Queen Vashti’s Refusal

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 Carkas, the seven eunuchs who served in the presence of King Ahasuerus,

¹¹ to bring Queen Vashti before the king with her royal crown, in order to show the peoples and the princes her beauty, for she was lovely to look at.

¹² But Queen Vashti refused to come at the king’s command delivered by the eunuchs. At this the king became enraged, and his anger burned within him.

¹³ Then the king said to the wise men who knew the times (for this was the king’s procedure towards all who were versed in law and judgement,

¹⁴ the men next to him being Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, and Memucan, the seven princes of Persia and Media, who saw the king’s face, and sat first in the kingdom):

¹⁵ “According to the law, what is to be done to Queen Vashti, because she has not performed the command of King Ahasuerus delivered by the eunuchs?”

¹⁶ Then Memucan said in the presence of the king and the officials, “Not only against the king has Queen Vashti done wrong, but also against all the officials and all the peoples who are in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus.

¹⁷ For the queen’s behaviour will be made known to all women, causing them to look at their husbands with contempt, since they will say, ‘King Ahasuerus commanded Queen Vashti to be brought before him, and she did not come.’

¹⁸ This very day the noble women of Persia and Media who have heard of the queen’s behaviour will say the same to all the king’s officials, and there will be contempt and wrath in plenty.

¹⁹ If it please the king, let a royal order go out from him, and let it be written among the laws of the Persians and the Medes so qthat it may not be repealed, that Vashti is never again to come before King Ahasuerus. And let the king give her royal position to another who is better than she.

²⁰ So when the decree made by the king is proclaimed throughout all his kingdom, for it is vast, all women will give honour to their husbands, high and low alike.”

²¹ This advice pleased the king and the princes, and the king did as Memucan proposed.

²² He sent letters to all the royal provinces, to every province in its own script and to every people in its own language, that every man be master in his own household and speak according to the language of his people.