Parallel Bible results for "esther 1"

Esther 1

The Message Bible MSG

1 This is the story of something that happened in the time of Xerxes, the Xerxes who ruled from India to Ethiopia - 127 provinces in all.

2 King Xerxes ruled from his royal throne in the palace complex of Susa.

3 In the third year of his reign he gave a banquet for all his officials and ministers. The military brass of Persia and Media were also there, along with the princes and governors of the provinces.

4 For six months he put on exhibit the huge wealth of his empire and its stunningly beautiful royal splendors.

5 At the conclusion of the exhibit, the king threw a weeklong party for everyone living in Susa, the capital - important and unimportant alike. The party was in the garden courtyard of the king's summer house.

6 The courtyard was elaborately decorated with white and blue cotton curtains tied with linen and purple cords to silver rings on marble columns. Silver and gold couches were arranged on a mosaic pavement of porphyry, marble, mother-of-pearl, and colored stones.

7 Drinks were served in gold chalices, each chalice one-of-a-kind. The royal wine flowed freely - a generous king!

8 The guests could drink as much as they liked - king's orders! - with waiters at their elbows to refill the drinks.

9 Meanwhile, Queen Vashti was throwing a separate party for women inside King Xerxes' royal palace.

10 On the seventh day of the party, the king, high on the wine, ordered the seven eunuchs who were his personal servants (Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar, and Carcas)

11 to bring him Queen Vashti resplendent in her royal crown. He wanted to show off her beauty to the guests and officials. She was extremely good-looking.

12 But Queen Vashti refused to come, refused the summons delivered by the eunuchs. The king lost his temper. Seething with anger over her insolence,

13 the king called in his counselors, all experts in legal matters. It was the king's practice to consult his expert advisors.

14 Those closest to him were Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, and Memucan, the seven highest-ranking princes of Persia and Media, the inner circle with access to the king's ear.

15 He asked them what legal recourse they had against Queen Vashti for not obeying King Xerxes' summons delivered by the eunuchs.

16 Memucan spoke up in the council of the king and princes: "It's not only the king Queen Vashti has insulted, it's all of us, leaders and people alike in every last one of King Xerxes' provinces.

17 The word's going to get out: 'Did you hear the latest about Queen Vashti? King Xerxes ordered her to be brought before him and she wouldn't do it!' When the women hear it, they'll start treating their husbands with contempt.

18 The day the wives of the Persian and Mede officials get wind of the queen's insolence, they'll be out of control. Is that what we want, a country of angry women who don't know their place?

19 "So, if the king agrees, let him pronounce a royal ruling and have it recorded in the laws of the Persians and Medes so that it cannot be revoked, that Vashti is permanently banned from King Xerxes' presence. And then let the king give her royal position to a woman who knows her place.

20 When the king's ruling becomes public knowledge throughout the kingdom, extensive as it is, every woman, regardless of her social position, will show proper respect to her husband."

21 The king and the princes liked this. The king did what Memucan proposed.

22 He sent bulletins to every part of the kingdom, to each province in its own script, to each people in their own language: "Every man is master of his own house; whatever he says, goes."

The Latin Vulgate VUL

1 In diebus Assueri, qui regnavit ab India usque Aethiopiam super centum viginti septem provincias:

2 quando sedit in solio regni sui, Susan civitas regni eius exordium fuit.

3 Tertio igitur anno imperii sui fecit grande convivium cunctis principibus, et pueris suis, fortissimis Persarum, et Medorum inclytis, et praefectis provinciarum coram se,

4 ut ostenderet divitias gloriae regni sui, ac magnitudinem, atque iactantiam potentiae suae, multo tempore, centum videlicet et octoginta diebus.

5 Cumque implerentur dies convivii, invitavit omnem populum, qui inventus in Susan, a maximo usque ad minimum: et iussit septem diebus convivium praeparari in vestibulo horti, et nemoris, quod regio cultu et manu consitum erat.

6 Et pendebant ex omni parte tentoria aerii coloris et carbasini ac hyacinthini, sustentata funibus byssinis, atque purpureis, qui eburneis circulis inserti erant, et columnis marmoreis fulciebantur. Lectuli quoque aurei et argentei, super pavimentum smaragdino et pario stratum lapide, dispositi erant: quod mira varietate pictura decorabat.

7 Bibebant autem qui invitati erant, aureis poculis, et aliis atque aliis vasis cibi inferebantur. Vinum quoque, ut magnificentia regia dignum erat, abundans, et praecipuum ponebatur.

8 Nec erat qui nolentes cogeret ad bibendum, sed sicut rex statuerat, praeponens mensis singulos de principibus suis ut sumeret unusquisque quod vellet.

9 Vasthi quoque regina fecit convivium feminarum in palatio, ubi rex Assuerus manere consueverat.

10 Itaque die septimo, cum rex esset hilarior, et post nimiam potationem incaluisset mero, praecepit Maumam, et Bazatha, et Harbona, et Bagatha et Abgatha, et Zethar, et Charchas, septem eunuchis, qui in conspectu eius ministrabant,

11 ut introducerent reginam Vasthi coram rege, posito super caput eius diademate, ut ostenderet cunctis populis et principibus pulchritudinem illius: erat enim pulchra valde.

12 Quae renuit, et ad regis imperium, quod per eunuchos mandaverat, venire contempsit. Unde iratus rex, et nimio furore succensus,

13 interrogavit sapientes, qui ex more regio semper ei aderant, et illorum faciebat cuncta consilio, scientium leges, ac iura maiorum:

14 (erant autem primi et proximi, Charsena, et Sethar, et Admatha, et Tharsis, et Mares, et Marsana, et Mamuchan, septem duces Persarum, atque Medorum, qui videbant faciem regis, et primi post eum residere soliti erant)

15 cui sententiae Vasthi regina subiaceret, quae Assueri regis imperium, quod per eunuchos mandaverat, facere noluisset.

16 Responditque Mamuchan, audiente rege, atque principibus, Non solum regem laesit regina Vasthi, sed et omnes populos, et principes, qui sunt in cunctis provinciis regis Assueri.

17 Egredietur enim sermo reginae ad omnes mulieres, ut contemnant viros suos, et dicant: Rex Assuerus iussit ut regina Vasthi intraret ad eum, et illa noluit.

18 Atque hoc exemplo omnes principum coniuges Persarum atque Medorum, parvipendent imperia maritorum: unde regis iusta indignatio.

19 Si tibi placet, egrediatur edictum a facie tua, et scribatur iuxta legem Persarum atque Medorum, quam praeteriri illicitum est, ut nequaquam ultra Vasthi ingrediatur ad regem, sed regnum illius, altera, quae melior illa, accipiat.

20 Et hoc in omne (quod latissimum est) provinciarum tuarum divulgetur imperium, et cunctae uxores tam maiorum, quam minorum deferant maritis suis honorem.

21 placuit consilium eius regi, et principibus: fecitque rex iuxta consilium Mamuchan,

22 et misit epistolas ad universas provincias regni sui, ut quaeque gens audire et legere poterat, diversis linguis et litteris, esse viros principes ac maiores in domibus suis: et hoc per cunctos populos divulgari.