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Artaxerxes’ Banquet

1It was after this that the following things happened in the days of Artaxerxes, the same Artaxerxes who ruled over one hundred and twenty-seven provinces from India to Ethiopia.^{* 2}In those days, when King Artaxerxes was enthroned in the city of Susa, ³in the third year of his reign, he gave a banquet for his Friends and other persons of various nations, the Persians and Median nobles, and the governors of the provinces. ⁴After this, when he had displayed to them the riches of his kingdom and the splendour of his bountiful celebration during the course of one hundred and eighty days, ⁵at the end of the festivity^* the king gave a drinking-party for the people of various nations who lived in the city. This was held for six days in the courtyard of the royal palace, ⁶which was adorned with curtains of fine linen and cotton, held by cords of purple linen attached to gold and silver blocks on pillars of marble and other stones. Gold and silver couches were placed on a mosaic floor of emerald, mother-of-pearl, and marble. There were coverings of gauze, embroidered in various colours, with roses arranged around them. ⁷The cups were of gold and silver, and a miniature cup was displayed, made of ruby, worth thirty thousand talents. There was abundant sweet wine, such as the king himself drank. ⁸The drinking was not according to a fixed rule; but the king wished to have it so, and he commanded his stewards to comply with his pleasure and with that of the guests.

9 Meanwhile, Queen Vashti^* gave a drinking-party for the women in the palace where King Artaxerxes was.

Dismissal of Queen Vashti

10 On the seventh day, when the king was in good humour, he told Haman, Bazan, Tharra, Boraze, Zatholtha, Abataza, and Tharaba, the seven eunuchs who served King Artaxerxes, ¹¹to 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. ¹²But Queen Vashti^* refused to obey him and would not come with the eunuchs. This offended the king and he became furious. ¹³He said to his Friends, ‘This is how Vashti^* has answered me.^* Give therefore your ruling and judgement on this matter.’ ¹⁴Arkesaeus, Sarsathaeus, and Malesear, then the governors of the Persians and Medes who were closest to the king—Arkesaeus, Sarsathaeus, and Malesear, who sat beside him in the chief seats—came to him ¹⁵and told him what must be done to Queen Vashti^* for not obeying the order that the king had sent her by the eunuchs. ¹⁶Then Muchaeus said to the king and the governors, ‘Queen Vashti^* has insulted 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, ¹⁸so now the other ladies who are wives of the Persian and Median governors, on hearing what she has said to the king, will likewise dare to insult their husbands. ¹⁹If 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; but let the king give her royal rank to a woman better than she. ²⁰Let whatever law the king enacts be proclaimed in his kingdom, and thus all women will give honour to their husbands, rich and poor alike.’ ²¹This speech pleased the king and the governors, and the king did as Muchaeus had recommended. ²²The king sent the decree into all his kingdom, to every province in its own language, so that in every house respect would be shown to every husband.