26
Meanwhile, inside the royal palace Queen Vashti was giving a banquet for the women.
27
On the seventh day of his banquet the king was feeling happy, so he called in the seven eunuchs who were his personal servants, Haman, Bazan, Tharra, Boraze, Zatholta, Abataza, and Tharaba.
28
He ordered them to bring in the queen, so that he could place the royal crown on her head and show her off to the officials and all his guests, for she was a beautiful woman.
29
But Queen Vashti refused to obey and would not come with the servants. This embarrassed the king and made him furious.
30
He told his advisers about Vashti's reply and asked them to give a legal opinion about what he should do.
31
Three of them, who were closest to the king and held the highest offices, came and told him what the law required and what should be done to Queen Vashti for disobeying the command he had given her through his servants. They were Arkesaeus, Sarsathaeus, and Malesear, officials of Persia and Media.
32
Then the king told his officials and the governors of Media and Persia how the queen had defied him. So Muchaeus said to the king and everyone present: "Queen Vashti has insulted not only you but all of us as well.
33
As soon as our wives hear what the queen has done, they will be bold enough to defy their husbands and treat them with disrespect in the same way that Vashti has treated you.
35
If, then, it please Your Majesty, issue a royal proclamation that Vashti may never again appear before the king. Have it written into the laws of Media and Persia. Then give her place as queen to some better woman. There is no other way.
36
When your proclamation is made known all over this empire, then every woman will treat her husband with proper respect, whether he is rich or poor."