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Now it came to pass in the days of Ahasuerus, (this is Ahasuerus which reigned, from India even unto Ethiopia, over an hundred and seven and twenty provinces:)
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In the thirdyear of his reign, he made a feast unto all his princes and his servants; the power of Persia and Media, the nobles and princes of the provinces, being before him:
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And when these days were expired, the kingmade a feast unto all the people that were present in Shushan the palace, both unto great and small,sevendays, in the court of the garden of the king'spalace;
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Where were white,green, and blue, hangings, fastened with cords of fine linen and purple to silverrings and pillars of marble: the beds were of gold and silver, upon a pavement of red, and blue, and white, and black,marble.
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And they gave them drink in vessels of gold, (the vessels being diverse one from another,) and royalwine in abundance, according to the state of the king.
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And the drinking was according to the law; none did compel: for so the king had appointed to all the officers of his house, that they should do according to every man'spleasure.
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On the seventhday, when the heart of the king was merry with wine, he commandedMehuman,Biztha,Harbona,Bigtha, and Abagtha,Zethar, and Carcas, the sevenchamberlains that served in the presence of Ahasuerus the king,
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And the next unto him was Carshena,Shethar,Admatha,Tarshish,Meres,Marsena, and Memucan, the sevenprinces of Persia and Media, which saw the king'sface, and which sat the first in the kingdom;)
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And Memucanansweredbefore the king and the princes,Vashti the queen hath not done wrong to the king only, but also to all the princes, and to all the people that are in all the provinces of the kingAhasuerus.
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For this deed of the queen shall come abroad unto all women, so that they shall despise their husbands in their eyes, when it shall be reported, The kingAhasueruscommandedVashti the queen to be brought inbefore him, but she came not.
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Likewise shall the ladies of Persia and Mediasay this day unto all the king'sprinces, which have heard of the deed of the queen. Thus shall there arise too muchcontempt and wrath.
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If it please the king, let there go a royalcommandment from him, and let it be written among the laws of the Persians and the Medes, that it be not altered, That Vashticome no more beforekingAhasuerus; and let the kinggive her royal estate unto another that is better than she.
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And when the king'sdecree which he shall make shall be published throughout all his empire, (for it is great,) all the wives shall give to their husbandshonour, both to great and small.
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For he sentletters into all the king'sprovinces, into every province according to the writing thereof, and to every people after their language, that every man should bear rule in his own house, and that it should be published according to the language of every people.