1. And it cometh to pass, in the days of Ahasuerus--he [is] Ahasuerus who is reigning from Hodu even unto Cush, seven and twenty and a hundred provinces--
2. in those days, at the sitting of the king Ahasuerus on the throne of his kingdom, that [is] in Shushan the palace,
3. in the third year of his reign, he hath made a banquet to all his heads and his servants; of the force of Persia and Media, the chiefs and heads of the provinces [are] before him,
4. in his shewing the wealth of the honour of his kingdom, and the glory of the beauty of his greatness, many days--eighty and a hundred days.
5. And at the fulness of these days hath the king made to all the people who are found in Shushan the palace, from great even unto small, a banquet, seven days, in the court of the garden of the house of the king--
6. white linen, white cotton, and blue, fastened with cords of fine linen and purple on rings of silver, and pillars of marble, couches of gold, and of silver, on a pavement of smaragdus, and white marble, and mother-of-pearl, and black marble--
7. and the giving of drink in vessels of gold, and the vessels [are] divers vessels, and the royal wine [is] abundant, as a memorial of the king.
8. And the drinking [is] according to law, none is pressing, for so hath the king appointed for every chief one of his house, to do according to the pleasure of man and man.
9. Also Vashti the queen hath made a banquet for women, in the royal house that the king Ahasuerus hath.
10. On the seventh day, as the heart of the king is glad with wine, he hath said to Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, and Abagtha, Zethar, and Carcas, the seven eunuchs who are ministering in the presence of the king Ahasuerus,
11. to bring in Vashti the queen before the king, with a royal crown, to shew the peoples and the heads her beauty, for she [is] of good appearance,
12. and the queen Vashti refuseth to come in at the word of the king that [is] by the hand of the eunuchs, and the king is very wroth, and his fury hath burned in him.
13. And the king saith to wise men, knowing the times--for so [is] the word of the king before all knowing law and judgment,
14. and he who is near unto him [is] Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, Memucan, seven heads of Persia and Media seeing the face of the king, who are sitting first in the kingdom--